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Chair umpire refuses to shake Fabio Fognini's hand after he loses in Paris

No. 20 Fabio Fognini ended his 2014 season with a 7-6, 7-6 loss to French qualifier Lucas Pouille and then capped it off with a heated argument with chair

Courtney Nguyen

Chair umpire refuses to shake Fabio Fognini's hand after he loses in Paris
Chair umpire refuses to shake Fabio Fognini's hand after he loses in Paris /

No. 20 Fabio Fognini ended his 2014 season with a 7-6, 7-6 loss to French qualifier Lucas Pouille and then capped it off with a heated argument with chair umpire Carlos Bernardes, after he initially refused to shake Fognini's hand at the BNP Paribas Masters. It's unclear why Fognini was so angry with Bernardes initially, but Italian journalists tweeted that Fognini was agitated about something at 7-all in the tiebreaker. He threw his racket after Pouille hit a winner into the open court to earn match point. Fognini yelled angrily toward Bernardes as the partisan crowd began to boo Fognini's antics. He then double-faulted on match point to give the No. 176 Frenchman the win. After a cold handshake at the net, Fognini turned his attention to Bernardes. After a few choice words from the Italian, Bernardes went to shake Pouille's hand but initially refused to shake Fognini's. You can watch the exchange below: [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgzD_QuZ7-U] Fognini and Bernardes continued to engage with each other until Bernardes walked him off the court.

And thus, this ends the saga of Fognini's 2014 season, which saw him face numerous fines throughout the year for unsportsmanlike conduct, including over $27,000 at Wimbledon. Just a few weeks ago he was fined for flipping off the crowd after losing to a Chinese wildcard at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

Watch: Fabio Fognini karate kicks his racket after loss to qualifier

Watch: Fabio Fognini flips off the crowd after loss at Shanghai Masters

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Courtney Nguyen
COURTNEY NGUYEN

Contributor, SI.com Nguyen is a freelance writer for SI.com, providing full coverage of professional tennis both on and off the court. Her content has become a must-read for fans and insiders to stay up-to-date with a sport that rarely rests. She has appeared on radio and TV talk shows all over the world and is one of the co-hosts of No Challenges Remaining, a weekly podcast available on iTunes. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and received a law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002. She lives in the Bay Area.

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