PARIS (AP) 鈥� Adolfo Daniel Vallejo was fined half his prize money after he said his second-round match should not have been , the tournament director announced on Monday.
Vallejo lost to French teenager Moise Kouame last week after a tense five-set battle that lasted nearly five hours. He later told the tennis website Clay that “this sort of match needs to be umpired by a man.鈥�
Following his 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (8) loss, Vallejo added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 very difficult for a woman to do it.鈥�
Roland Garros director Amelie Mauresmo told reporters at the French Open that a 65,000 euros ($76,000) fine was handed down to the player, 鈥渞epresenting roughly half of his prize money.鈥�
鈥淭his is clearly unacceptable,鈥� Mauresmo said. 鈥淥nce again, such remarks have no place here.鈥�
Players reaching the second round at the French Open receive 130,000 euros.
Vallejo, from Paraguay, said the umpire, Ana Carvalho from Brazil, did not control the spectators.
鈥淚t has to be refereed by a man, because it鈥檚 a very demanding crowd and you need a lot of strength to go against the crowd,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he crowd was very out of line, but I understand they鈥檙e supporting their compatriot. It鈥檚 quite an intense crowd and that鈥檚 why I was prepared; I already knew it would be like that and, to be honest, it didn鈥檛 harm me, but rather strengthened him.鈥�
Vallejo added that Kouame 鈥渢ook up a lot of time on many occasions, lying on the floor or stalling.鈥�
鈥淎nd it鈥檚 not normal for the crowd to be shouting for a full minute without any play. In a match where the physical aspect matters so much, if you give a player a lot of time he鈥檚 obviously going to take advantage of it. The truth is it鈥檚 also difficult for a referee to manage this situation.鈥�
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