"This line of questioning to Frances Tiafoe seems sudden" - Tennis insider stumped by American being asked about time violations at Vienna Open

Weeks after Frances Tiafoe's heated exchange with the umpire during his third round match at the 2024 Shanghai Masters, a reporter at the Vienna Open brought up the incident following Tiafoe's first-round match at the event. This line of questioning drew criticism from journalist Ben Rothenberg, who expressed his disapproval.

The 26-year-old defeated Cameron Norrie 6-4, 7-6(4) in the first round of the tournament on Tuesday. The Vienna Open is familiar ground for Tiafoe as he reached the final in 2021 but was defeated by Alexander Zverev in straight sets.

Following his match on Tuesday, Tiafoe was interviewed on the court and asked whether he was concerned about the example he sets for children during moments of frustration with the umpire and if he would handle such situations better in the future.

He responded that he doesn’t take for granted how kids look up to him and stated that he will handle such incidents better when the authorities make a change.

“A lot of my fans are kids, I understand the effect I have on kids, they want to be like me, they see themselves in me, and I don't take those moments for granted, but at the same time we put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears out here and for me to play four consecutive time violations is insane and it needs to be spoken about, because then that's loss of points, loss of money, fines that comes with that because of reaction."

"I'll deal with it better when they make a change, I think going on with this I don't think any change will happen, I've been on tour for 10 years and it's never happened,” Frances Tiafoe added.

Journalist Ben Rothenberg then replied to the video on X (formerly Twitter), expressing his displeasure with the direction the interview took and its line of questioning, saying:

“I don’t think these questions are bad or unfair, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything like it from an ATP in-house broadcast interview before. It’s good for them to commit a little journalism for a change, but this line of questioning to Tiafoe seems extremely sudden”

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Frances Tiafoe will face Matteo Berrettini in the second round of the Vienna Open

Following his victory over Cameron Norrie, Frances Tiafoe will face Matteo Berrettini on Wednesday in the second round of the 2024 Vienna Open. Before meeting Tiafoe, the 28-year-old Berrettini defeated Hungary's Márton Fucsovics 7-5, 6-4 in his first-round match.

Tiafoe and Berrettini have previously met twice on the ATP tour. Their first encounter was at the 2018 Italian Open where the Italian won 6-3, 7-6(1) in the second round. They met for the second time at the 2022 Cincinnati Masters where Tiafoe edged out Berrettini 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(5).

About the author

Joseph is a Tennis journalist at Sportskeeda with over 4 years of experience in sports journalism. He holds a Law degree, but became a sports journalist out of his love for sports.

Joseph follows genuine pages on social media platforms, and verifies information via multiple sources to ensure accuracy in his articles. To stay up to date with the latest developments in the sport, he follows the WTA and ATP closely. His methods have helped him garner over 1.6 million views in just seven months at Sportskeeda.

He's a die-hard fan of Novak Djokovic, admiring not only his exceptional on-court skills, but also his off-court persona. For Joseph, the Serb is also the rightful recipient of the ‘GOAT’ tag and credits his achievement of 24 Grand Slam titles and reign of 422 weeks as World No.1.

The British culture and strict uniformity at the Wimbledon Championships make the event his favorite on the tennis calendar. Outside of tennis, Joseph passionately supports Manchester United and considers Lionel Messi the greatest sportsman of all time. In his leisure time, he enjoys expanding his horizons with documentaries, particularly those focusing on politics.

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Edited by Prathik BR