Although
Frances Tiafoe has been playing arguably the best tennis of his career over the last thirty days, the American came under fire when he and compatriot
Jack Sock defeated the duo
Roger Federer and
Rafael Nadal at the recently concluded
Laver Cup.
In Federer's last match as a professional tennis player on Friday night, he teamed up with Nadal against the two Americans. During the match, Tiafoe blasted two forehands at both his opponents one by one. While the ball hit Federer in the arm, the Spaniard fell to the ground to save himself.
Furthermore, Tiafoe also made 'Greek Yogurt' references to Stefanos Tsitsipas, whom he beat on Sunday to help his team emerge victorious. The tennis world found itself divided, with some defending the pair's actions, calling it "a part of the game," while others questioned why American fans were always accepting of poor sportsmanship.
"Why are Americans so accepting of poor sportsmanship? Why are the on-court antics of people like McEnroe, Kyrgios, Williams accepted, even celebrated? It seems to be a uniquely American thing to find bad behavior and rudeness somehow ok," a fan wrote.
Most Americans don't approve of bad behavior on the court," countered another user. "Also, Nick Kyrgios is not American. Neither are Benoit Paire, Bublik and several other players who have tanked or thrown fits on the court. If you're going back to McEnroe's era, it would be difficult to ever top Ilie Nastase's behavior on and off the court."
"Or Americans have no class..it can cut both ways," said another fan.
"Europeans: Greek Yoghurt is unacceptable xenophobia. Also Europeans: throwing bananas at black athletes," wrote another fan.
"Americans notoriously have the worst banter anyway," chimed in a user.
Tiafoe made it clear after the tournament that he would not be apologizing for his actions, and playfully added that Federer had a lot to apologize for after dominating the circuit for over two decades.