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Roland Garros Fines Daniel Vallejo €65,000 Over Sexist Umpire Remark

The penalty signals organisers will enforce that officiating is judged by professionalism rather than by gender.

Overview

  • Vallejo lost a nearly five-hour, five-set second-round match to 17-year-old Moise Kouame on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
  • In a post-match interview he said “this sort of match needs to be umpired by a man” and singled out Brazilian official Ana Carvalho for not controlling the crowd.
  • Vallejo apologised on social media and said his words were taken out of context while CLAY published the full audio of the interview.
  • Roland Garros tournament director Amélie Mauresmo confirmed on Monday that organisers fined Vallejo €65,000, which is roughly half of the €130,000 paid to second-round losers.
  • The French Tennis Federation and tournament officials condemned the comment as unacceptable, offered public support to the umpire, and framed the fine as enforcement of gender-neutral standards that aim to protect match officials and deter similar public statements.