Action over foul-mouthed Fognini too slow, says Nadal

NEW YORK: Rafael Nadal insisted on Saturday that tennis chiefs were wrong to wait three days before kicking controversial Italian Fabio Fognini out of the US Open for a vile, sexist tirade at a female umpire.

The 30-year-old Fognini aimed two ugly misogynistic blasts at umpire Louise Engzell as he crashed to defeat in a first-round singles match against fellow Italian Stefano Travaglia on Wednesday.

However, Fognini, with compatriot Simone Bolelli, won two rounds of men’s doubles on Thursday and Friday before the Grand Slam board defaulted him on Saturday.Fognini, the world number 26, had already been fined $24,000 for the incident.

Tennis chiefs explained the delay in making a decision on a possible suspension on having to wait for a tranlsation of the player’s brief remarks.“It takes four days for that translation? I don’t think so. Easy to find,” said world number one Nadal after making the fourth round on Saturday.

“Of course it is not a positive thing. Of course if you are not doing the right things on the court, of course you need to be in some way affected, no?” added the Spaniard.“But at the same time is true that things can be made to happen earlier because I believe that he played two doubles matches. If they want to suspend him, will be much better to do it immediately, not three days later or four days later, because then he was here playing for a few days.” —