Vallejo says a woman should not have umpired his French Open thriller

PARIS (AP) — Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay said his second-round match at the French Open against Moise Kouame should not have been umpired by a woman.

Vallejo lost to the up-and-coming French teenager on Thursday after a tense five-set battle that lasted just under five hours on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

“This sort of match needs to be umpired by a man,” Vallejo told Clay magazine after his 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (8) loss. “It’s very difficult for a woman to do it.”

Kouame clawed back from 5-3 down in the fifth set to force the decisive tiebreaker and rallied again from 8-7 down in the tiebreaker. The French crowd was boisterous and Vallejo said the umpire, Brazilian Ana Carvalho, did not control the spectators.

“It has to be refereed by a man, because it’s a very demanding crowd and you need a lot of strength to go against the crowd,” he said. “The crowd was very out of line, but I understand they’re supporting their compatriot. It’s quite an intense crowd and that’s why I was prepared; I already knew it would be like that and, to be honest, it didn’t harm me, but rather strengthened him.”

Vallejo added that Kouame “took up a lot of time on many occasions, lying on the floor or stalling.”

“And it’s not normal for the crowd to be shouting for a full minute without any play. In a match where the physical aspect matters so much, if you give a player a lot of time he’s obviously going to take advantage of it. The truth is it’s also difficult for a referee to manage this situation.”

When asked for comments, French Open organizers did not immediately respond.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis