Frances Tiafoe apologizes after profane tirade against umpire

Tiafoe was serving with the tiebreaker at 5-5 and lost his first serve after being called for the violation, which brought up his second serve. Tiafoe lost that point and the following point to lose the match.

After shaking hands with Safiullin at the net, Tiafoe proceeded to shout at Pinoargote, “[Expletive] you, man! [Expletive] you!”

Given some time to reflect upon his behavior, Tiafoe apologized.

“I really apologize for the way I acted tonight,” Tiafoe wrote in a statement posted to his Instagram story, via tennis journalist Jose Morgado.

“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. That’s not acceptable behavior and I want to apologize to the umpire, the tournament, and the fans.

“I’ll be better for yall.”

Players have 25 seconds to serve. Tiafoe said he had tossed up the ball, but Pinoargote felt the toss was a time-delaying mechanism. 

"I'm not buying it, it's the second serve," Pinoargote said after he called Tiafoe for the violation.

Tiafoe, who was a semifinalist at the U.S. Open this year, is subject to a fine for his behavior.