French Open Announces Punishment After Tennis Player's Problematic Comment

Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo was eliminated from the French Open this week and is headed home with more than just a loss.

He’ll have a significant hit to his wallet to account for following his loss to France’s Moise Kouame in the second round on Thursday. Kouame, 17, was roared on by his home fans on Court Suzanne Lenglen, eventually winning 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (8) after 4 hours, 56 minutes.

After the match, Vallejo complained about the time Kouame was allowed to take between points and argued that Ana Carvalho, an experienced official, was not strong enough to control the crowd.

“This sort of match needs to be umpired by a man. It’s very difficult for a woman to do it,” Vallejo told Clay magazine. “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.”

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The French Tennis Federation and Roland Garros organizers wasted no time responding to Vallejo’s comments.

“The competence of an umpire is not determined by their gender, but by their professionalism and ability to officiate at the highest level,” the organizers said. “The outcome of a sporting event, whether positive or negative, can never justify or excuse such remarks. The tournament organisers will impose a significant sanction on Adolfo Vallejo in the form of a fine.

“The Roland-Garros tournament strongly condemns all sexist remarks, regardless of who makes them, and offers its support to the match umpire and, more broadly, to all the tournament’s umpiring officials.”

Vallejo maintains he never disrespected women in general, even though his comment directly stated a man was needed in the moment instead of a woman.

“I never spoke about women in general, I spoke about the referee specifically, who didn’t handle the crowd at any point during the match,” Vallejo wrote on X in Spanish.

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This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 10:57 PM.