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Saturday, 19 January, 2002,
Russia's Marat Safin is set to be heavily fined after he swore
at an Australian Open umpire.
Safin lost his cool when he was given a code violation for hitting
a line judge with a ball.
The former US Open champion clashed with umpire after the official
handed him a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct during
his 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory over Mikhail Youzhny.
The ninth seed said he absent-mindedly hit a ball towards the
ball boys at the back of the court and had no intention of hitting
the judge.
He lost his temper when official Norm Chryst - with whom he
has clashed before - doled out the warning.
"I'm so disappointed this kind of thing happens to me with
same chair umpire... (previously) he took a game from me for
nothing," he said at a news conference after the match.
"Today I had nothing against him, nothing against the linesman.
"I was trying to try to give ball to ballboy... he said
'why did you have to hit the linesman with ball, why did you
have to do this?'
"Everybody can make a mistake. The chair umpire has to
use his brains sometimes."
Safin became increasingly agitated when the umpire refused to
remove his sunglasses during the confrontation.
"I'm talking to him nicely and he's talking to me... and
he's talking to me like 'I'm the king of the court' and it's
not right.
"I cannot talk to the person with sunglasses... he should
talk to me with respect like I am talking to him."
The Russian said that he will do all he can to fight any fine
he receives.
A spokesman for the International Tennis Federation said no
action would be taken until video tapes of the incident had
been reviewed.
courtesy news.bbc.co.uk
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