Adolfo Daniel Vallejo Fined Over Sexist Remark About Umpire at Roland-Garros

Adolfo Daniel Vallejo was fined $65,000 by the French Tennis Federation and Roland-Garros organizers following sexist comments made about official Ana Carvalho, according to Samuel Petrequin of the Associated Press.

Roland-Garros director Amelie Mauresmo told reporters that Vallejo's fine was "representing roughly half of his prize money," according to Petrequin.

"This is clearly unacceptable," Mauresmo said, per Petrequin. "Once again, such remarks have no place here."

Organizers announced Friday that "Referees' competence is not measured by their gender, but by their professionalism and their ability to officiate at a high level. The result of a sporting event, whether positive or negative, can never justify or excuse such remarks. The tournament management will impose a significant sanction, in the form of a fine, on Adolfo Daniel Vallejo.

"The French Open strongly condemns all sexist remarks from wherever they come from, and offers its support to the umpire of the match, and more broadly to all the tournament's refereeing officials."

Vallejo's comments about Carvalho came after he was displeased with the crowd control during his loss to Moise Kouame in the second round at Roland-Garros.

"This sort of match needs to be umpired by a man. It's very difficult for a woman to do it," Vallejo told Clay magazine (h/t ESPN). "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."

Kouame is from Sarcelles, France and understandably had plenty of support from his home fans during a 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (8) win over Vallejo on Thursday.

At 17 years old, Kouame became the youngest male player to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since Rafael Nadal in 2003.

He fired up the crowd on multiple occasions during the match and discussed the way fans impacted his energy following his victory.

"It's something I've always dreamed to do, get the crowd going and making a bit of a show on court," Kouame said, per ESPN. "Of course, doing this on every point is, I think, too much, so I'm really trying to understand when is the right moment to feel the most energy the crowd is giving me.

"The public gave me a lot of energy to keep going physically and mentally. So probably without them, it would maybe be another story."

Vallejo, who was up 5-2 in the fifth set before blowing the lead, responded to the fine decision on social media.

"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," Vallejo wrote on X in Spanish, via ESPN. "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."