Paraguayan tennis player Adolfo Daniel Vallejo is facing a “significant sanction” from French Open organisers after suggesting his second-round match should not have been umpired by a woman.
Following his five-set defeat, Vallejo was quoted by Clay magazine as saying: “This sort of match needs to be umpired by a man, it’s very difficult for a woman to do it.”
Tournament organisers swiftly condemned the remarks on Friday, issuing a strong statement that deemed Vallejo’s comments “unacceptable”.
The French Tennis Federation and Roland Garros organisers asserted: “The competence of an umpire is not determined by their gender but by their professionalism and ability to officiate at the highest level. The outcome of a sporting event, whether positive or negative, can never justify or excuse such remarks.”
They confirmed a “significant sanction” in the form of a fine would be imposed, adding that the tournament “strongly condemns all sexist remarks, regardless of who makes them, and offers its support to the match umpire and, more broadly, to all the tournament’s umpiring officials.”
The controversy erupted after Vallejo’s gruelling five-set loss to French teenager Moise Kouame, a match umpired by experienced official Ana Carvalho. The contest, which stretched to four hours and 56 minutes, saw Kouame, 17, triumph 6-3 7-5 3-6 2-6 7-6 (8) amidst a raucous home crowd on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Vallejo expressed dissatisfaction with Kouame’s pace of play and argued that Brazilian umpire Carvalho lacked the authority to manage the boisterous crowd.
He reiterated his view, stating: “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.”
While players are allotted 25 seconds between points, with a visible clock, umpires retain discretion on when to initiate the countdown, particularly when crowd noise is a factor.
He acknowledged the crowd’s behaviour, saying: “The crowd was very out of line, but I understand they are supporting their compatriot.”
Vallejo added: “It’s quite an intense crowd and that’s why I was prepared. I already knew it would be like that and, to be honest, it didn’t harm me, but rather strengthened him.”
He also accused his opponent of time-wasting: “I think he took up a lot of time on many occasions, lying on the floor or stalling. And it’s 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’s obviously going to take advantage of it.”
Later, Vallejo took to X (formerly Twitter) to claim his words had been “taken out of context”.
He clarified: “I never spoke about women in general, I spoke about the referee specifically, who didn’t handle the crowd at any point during the match.”
He also added: “That said, I also didn’t say that I lost because of her. I congratulated the opponent and it’s normal for the crowd to cheer for the home player.”
Clay magazine, the publication that reported the initial quotes, defended its story, responding: “It’s true that you didn’t say you lost because of her, and we didn’t write that either. Our text explains everything with precision and the appropriate context.”
