The tennis umpire who defaulted Novak Djokovic from the US Open two years ago has reportedly been handed a 12-month suspension.
US Open referee Soeren Friemel, who expelled Novak Djokovic from the 2020 edition of the tournament in New York, has been suspended for 12 months over claims of unethical conduct and abuse of power. The German umpire has been mostly absent from the Grand Slam circuit since the build-up to last year's Wimbledon, supposedly for personal reasons, but is said to have entered a period of voluntary suspension back in June.
Friemel was the subject of allegations made by a younger male umpire over his behavior which sparked a five-month investigation by an independent QC, according to The Telegraph.
It is said that a 12-month suspension was initially handed down in December, but the sentence was only rubber-stamped when Friemel lost his appeal against the ban on Monday. He has been employed as the International Tennis Federation's head of officiating since 2014 and has been among the most renowned umpires on the Tour for the best part of the last decade.
A spokesperson for the governing body is quoted as saying: "The complaint was that Soeren made inappropriate comments and invitations to an individual.
"The issue was the situation of power imbalance, which led the investigating officer and the panel to find a breach of the code. Soeren remains under suspension and we are reviewing our course of action."
The report adds that four different instances, all involving the same younger umpire, were brought to the attention of the sport's decision-makers in May. The subsequent investigation was said to involve a number of interviews with multiple sources before the verdict was reached in December and then upheld on Monday.
Friemel was found to have broken three clauses of the Joint Certification Programme Code of Conduct, including Article 13, which states that 'officials shall not engage in unfair, unprofessional, criminal or unethical conduct'.
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