The opening round of the Hamburg Open was headlined by an altercation between Fabio Fognini and Aljaz Bedene, the latter apparently taking issue with a contentious call.
After the match, which Fognini won, chair umpire Aurelie Tourte had to get between the pair as the Slovenian took issue and was heard to say “every time we play, you do something like this.”
The pair then went back out onto the court, where Fognini tried to plead his case – pointing at several marks on the court.
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Thankfully, there didn’t need to be any more intervention from the umpire and after some remonstration from both, they finally went their separate ways.
It was Fognini’s 400th ATP Tour win, but he had to dig deep to get it in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6.
The Italian won the first set but dropped the second, before having to saving five break points in the opening game of the decider.
Fognini is no stranger to controversy, having been kicked out of the 2017 US Open after making obscene remarks to an umpire, while in 2019 he appeared to spit at a line judge after a close call at the Shanghai Masters.
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