'It has to be refereed by a man': French Open heavily fines player for 'very difficult for a woman' remark

NEW DELHI: French Open organisers have fined Paraguayan player Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 65,000 euros, about half of his tournament earnings, after he made sexist comments about the umpire following his second-round defeat to French teenager Moise Kouame.After losing a gruelling five-set match that lasted nearly five hours, Vallejo criticised Brazilian umpire Ana Carvalho, saying, "This sort of match needs to be umpired by a man." He further added, “It's very difficult for a woman to do it.”French Open director Amelie Mauresmo condemned the remarks and confirmed the hefty fine. “This is clearly unacceptable,” Mauresmo said. “Once again, such remarks have no place here.” Players who reach the second round earn 130,000 euros, making the penalty roughly half of Vallejo’s prize money.Vallejo argued that his comments were linked to crowd control rather than the umpire’s technical ability. He claimed the spectators heavily backed Kouame and that the official struggled to manage them. “It has to be refereed by a man, because it's a very demanding crowd and you need a lot of strength to go against the crowd,” he said.The Paraguayan also accused Kouame of slowing the match down, saying the French player “took up a lot of time on many occasions, lying on the floor or stalling.” He added, “And it's not normal for the crowd to be shouting for a full minute without any play.” While acknowledging the challenge of handling such situations, Vallejo maintained that the atmosphere and officiating played a role in the match.