Remember Frances Tiafoe’s racket-smashing incident at the 2023 Davis Cup? Or what about last year’s fiery outburst at the Shanghai Masters? Coincidentally, the incidents had two common denominators. For starters, both revolve around Tiafoe’s frustration with calls leading to fiery debates with chair umpires. And secondly, both calls cost the US player his win. Unfortunately, seems like we might be headed toward a similar incident this time, too.

In just the last one month, Tiafoe has had a rollercoaster ride, starting with some disappointment at Wimbledon to a solid return last week in Washington, D.C, ultimately losing the quarterfinals. While he’s currently on a winning spree at the National Bank Open, there was some turbulence during his maiden encounter at the ATP 1000 event.

On Wednesday night, Tiafoe played Japan’s Yosuke Watanuki in the R64. And it was a weird match, to say the least, if we talk about the outcome. Despite scoring more points overall, it was Watanuki who lost the battle. He hit 45 winners and committed just 16 unforced errors. On the other hand, Tiafoe wasn’t all that consistent with 32 unforced errors, and 19 winners. But he took the match with a final score line of 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(5). More bizarre than the result was an unusually tense incident that took place between Tiafoe and chair umpire Fergus Murphy.

As reported by Gill Gross on X (in a now-deleted post), “Frances got a verbal obscenity for celebrating with F-bombs. He was furious.” Later in the match, the American ended up hitting the ball into the stands. But guess what? The chair umpire ignored this act and didn’t hand Tiafoe a penalty. That penalty would have altered the end result. One can say it was a goodwill gesture from Murphy, right? The American ATP pro saw things differently, though. After he somehow eluded Watanuki’s challenge, he approached the veteran umpire for a customary handshake. But “it looked like Fergus didn’t want it.” Meanwhile, another journalist, Jose Morgado, believes that there was “No handshake for Fergus Murphy from Tiafoe”, suggesting that it was the latter who refused to shake hands in the first place.

The exact reason, however, couldn’t be established regarding this moment of tension between Tiafoe and Murphy. Tiafoe is now into the third round of the Canada Open. Next up, he will go against Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic, who’s coming from a sensational win (6-3, 6-7, 6-3) over Britain’s Cameron Norrie.

Circling back to Tiafoe, then Wednesday’s on-court gesture wasn’t the only time he had an intense moment with a chair umpire. Remember Shanghai? That was a not to be missed moment.

When Frances Tiafoe lashed out at the chair umpire in Shanghai

After the US Open last year, Frances Tiafoe was trying to find his footing. At Flushing Meadows, he performed really well but couldn’t enter the final after losing to compatriot Taylor Fritz in the semis. When he landed in Shanghai, Tiafoe was hoping to bounce back. While he managed an easy victory in his opening round against China’s Zhou Yi, the second battle made him lose his cool.

In the R32 encounter against Russia’s Roman Safiullin, Tiafoe failed to maintain much-needed momentum. Safiullin eventually beat him with a scoreline of 5-7, 7-5, 7-6. While the two had a cordial handshake after the result, the American was visibly not happy with the chair umpire. During the final set, in the tie-break, Tiafoe tossed the ball before serving. But he immediately received a time violation call from the umpire who penalized him for an illegitimate serve.

Result? Tiafoe had to start the point again, with a second serve, which he lost to Safiullin. Thus, the latter ended up getting a crucial lead in the match. On the next point, the Russian then snatched the victory. Tiafoe couldn’t resist his angst. He lashed out at the chair umpire after the match. Instead of shaking hands, he yelled at the umpire saying, “F— you, man, F— you!” He even had to pay a hefty fine amounting to $120,000 due to his explosive conduct with the official.

What’s your take on Tiafoe’s latest incident featuring veteran Fergus Murphy in Canada? Let us know in the comments below.