"If they want to suspend him, better to do it immediately"- When Rafael Nadal slammed US Open for delaying Fabio Fognini ban over abusing chair umpire

Rafael Nadal once criticized the US Open for delaying Fabio Fognini's ban after the Italian verbally abused a chair umpire. The controversial incident occurred during Fognini's first-round loss to fellow Italian Stefano Travaglia at the New York Slam in 2017.

Fognini directed a series of vulgar and misogynistic insults toward the female chair umpire, Louise Engzell. He reportedly called her a "wh*re" and a "c*ck s***er" in Italian.

As a result, Fognini was fined $24,000 initially. However, after further review, the tournament organizers decided to suspend him from the US Open, expelling him from the doubles competition, where he was still competing with partner Simone Bolelli. He was also provisionally suspended for two Grand Slams and fined $96000.

Rafael Nadal did not shy away from addressing the controversy surrounding Fabio Fognini after his third-round victory over Leonardo Mayer at Flushing Meadows. He criticized the tournament for delaying action against his colleague.

"Of course (it) is not a positive thing (what Fabio Fognini did)," Nadal told the press. "If you are not doing the right things on the court, of course you need to be in some way affected. But at the same time it's true that things can be made (to) happen earlier because I believe that he played two matches after that match, two doubles matches."

"If they want to suspend him, (it would) be much better to do it immediately, not three days later or four days later," he added.

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Rafael Nadal won his 3rd US Open title in 2017

Rafael Nadal poured at the 2017 US Open (Source: Getty)

Rafael Nadal claimed his third US Open title in 2017, adding to his previous victories in 2010 and 2013. He later secured a fourth title at the tournament in 2019.

In 2017, Nadal's path to the trophy included victories over Dusan Lajovic, Taro Daniel, Leonardo Mayer, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Andrey Rublev, Juan Martin del Potro, and Kevin Anderson.

During his victory speech, the 22-time Grand Slam champion described his win as "unbelievable" but expressed pride in his performance for maintaining a high level of play despite struggling with injuries.

"It has been a very special two weeks for me," he said. "Personally, it’s unbelievable what’s happened to me after a couple of years of injuries, playing not so good. But I’ve been playing a high level of tennis and the crowd here brings me to a higher level of energy."