Frances Tiafoe Apologizes After Telling Tennis Umpire 'F--k You, Man' in Viral Video

Frances Tiafoe issued an apology after cursing out the umpire following his loss to Roman Safiullin in the Shanghai Masters.

After shaking Safiullin's hand, Tiafoe walks toward the sideline and says "f--k you" multiple times to chair umpire Jimmy Pinoargote.

In a subsequent statement shared by The Athletic's Charlie Eccleshare, the 26-year-old American said, "I really regret the way I acted tonight.

"That is not who I am and not how I ever want to treat people. I let my frustration in the heat of the moment get the best of me, and I'm extremely disappointed with how I handled the situation. I'm a work in progress but that's not acceptable behavior and I want to apologize to the umpire, the tournament, and the fans."

Eccleshare noted Tiafoe's frustration stemmed from the multiple time violations he received, the last of which cost him his first serve with the score tied 5-5 in the decisive tiebreaker.

Tiafoe argued with Pinoargote that he had tossed the ball in the air to show he was ready to serve, but some pushed back on that idea and thought the time violation was correctly applied.

Per Eccleshare, Tiafoe is subject to a fine based on the ATP's rulebook for this season. The standard fine for verbally abusing a match official at a Masters 1000 tournament goes up to $60,000, and Tiafoe's prize money could be withheld if the ATP Members Fines Committee deems this to be a serious enough transgression.

Tiafoe has earned a total of $2.5 million in prize money this season. A large chunk of that came from his semifinal run at the U.S. Open.