​Francis Tiafoe is known as a player who constantly jokes around on the tennis court, but the American couldn’t stand it during his match against Lorenzo Musetti in the third round of the Rome Masters.

Frances TiafoePhoto: Dubreuil Corinne/ABACA/Abaca Press/Profimedia

Francis Tiafoe, ATP Rome allegation: ‘Don’t stop the match because I’m playing an Italian’

Tiafoe, ranked 12th in the ATP rankings, won the first set 7-5, but the rain started late in the second set and Musetti (world number 19) won the set 6-4.

Although the Tsitsipas-Sonego and Zverev-Wolf matches were stopped, the Francis-Lorenzo match went ahead and the US Open 2022 semi-finalist clashed with head umpire Jaume Campistol and supervisor Ali Neely.

Tiafoe believes that his match was stopped not only because his opponent is Italian, which further angered the fans at the Foro Italico (they booed the American throughout the match).

“How we play on this field now. as? How can you play on this field when it is raining so hard? I do not care! How can we play on this field? as? You are kidding. You’re all kidding me. Of course you won’t stop your match because I’m playing with an Italian” – Frances Tiafoe.

The match was eventually stopped at 2-1 in favor of Musetti (with a break) in the deciding set and is due to resume on Tuesday.

The Rome Masters takes place from May 10 to 21 on clay, is part of the ATP 1000 category, has a total prize money of €7,705,780, Novak Djokovic is the reigning champion and Rafael Nadal holds the record for titles at the Italian Forum (10 ).