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ATP Barcelona: Fabio Fognini after disqualification - "Paid for something I didn't do"

Following his disqualification at the ATP 500 event in Barcelona, Fabio Fognini was outraged by this fact. The Italian is not aware of any guilt.

by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Apr 21, 2021, 08:38 pm

Fabio Fognini was outraged by his disqualification in Barcelona
© Getty Images
Fabio Fognini was outraged by his disqualification in Barcelona

First the hard facts. Yes, Fabio Fognini probably didn't bring his best mood onto the pitch on Wednesday afternoon in Barcelona. Yes, the Italian probably didn't show the most motivated performance this calendar year against Bernabe Zapata Miralles. And yes, the world number 27. was disqualified at the score of 4: 4 after a confusing scene. The reason: unsportsmanlike conduct.

How exactly it happened and what the Monte Carlo winner from 2019 actually owed was unclear long after the disqualification. Also and especially the perpetrator himself, who railed after the match: "I paid for something that I didn't do. I've done bad things on the pitch in the past, but today I was very calm. I didn't spoken once. I'll investigate. It's the first time in my life that something like this has happened. "

Not Fognini's "first trick"

The Italian is responding to his only disqualification so far. In 2017, when the hot spur at the US Open was prematurely withdrawn from the competition after insulting a chair referee. A similar offense is said to have led to the default in Barcelona, reported the French L'Equipe shortly after the incidents.

An untruth, as Fognini asserted again in the course of the interview after the game - and went over to the counterattack towards the linesman: "I'm very sad about what happened to me today. I was 6-0 and 3-0 behind. I was very negatively surprised at myself, what it cost me, but what happened today speaks very badly about the chair umpire. "

"Sometimes use swear words"

Although it does happen that Fognini does not pay so much attention to his expression during the matches, these tirades are never directed at a person. "Everyone wonders what I said or did, but I can tell you I haven't offended anyone. There are swear words I say sometimes that fly through the air, I know, but I don't to anyone to hurt or to be disrespectful ", quoted the Spanish tennis portal Punto de Break the Italian.

On the part of the ATP or the organizers of Barcelona, however, there is still no statement on the incidents and the allegations Fognini.

by Michael Rothschädl

Wednesday
Apr 21, 2021, 09:10 pm
last edit: Apr 21, 2021, 08:38 pm