WATCH: Sofia Kenin fumes at ‘f***g dumba*s’ as she lashes out at officials and booing crowd

Shahida Jacobs 09 May 2024 7:56 AM

Sofia Kenin of the United States plays a shot

Sofia Kenin lost her cool during her Italian Open match against Lucia Bronzetti as she not only lashed out at officials, but also the Foro Italico spectators who booed her.

The 2020 Australian Open winner took on home favourite Bronzetti in the opening round on a wet day in Rome and the drama started midway during the first set when it started to rain.

With conditions getting slippery on the clay, the American urged the chair umpire to suspend play as she felt it had become unsafe, but she was told to continue playing as the match supervisor also felt it was safe to play.

But Kenin was disgusted with the decision and continued to argue and at one point she took the towel from her shoulders, threw it on the chair and shouted “fu****g dumba***s people, literally” and stormed back into court to continue the match.

Sonya Kenin cussing out the officials in Rome for making her play after she claimed the court was too wet to be safe.

They stopped play a couple points later due to the rain. pic.twitter.com/paxCd6iMEk

— nebby (@1gamesetmatch) May 8, 2024

Spectators inside Centre Court booed the 25-year-old when play resumed and after she won a point on the Bronzetti serve, Kenin retaliated by shouting “f*** you!” to the Italian crowd.

The world No 58 broke her opponent’s serve to get level to 3-3, but she was vindicated a few points later when the match was suspended due to, you guessed it, rain.

Sofia Kenin yelling “F— you!” to the Italian Open crowd. Give her the trophy already pic.twitter.com/Xli1ZsdC8n

— nebby (@1gamesetmatch) May 8, 2024

The Italian Open crowd is notorious for booing players as in 2023 Andy Murray also fell victim after he got into an argument with the chair umpire during his match against Fabio Fognini.

“Stadium full of Italians booing and whistling, thinking I’m trying to cheat Fabio out of point,” he wrote on Instagram after the match. “All because Mo [Mohamed Lahyani] couldn’t read a mark properly. Cheers mate.”

Kenin, a former world No 4 who hasn’t won a title since lifting the Lyon Open trophy in March 2020, eased to a 6-3, 6-2 victory when play resumed as she won her first WTA Tour-level match in 10 attempts with her previous victory coming in January.

After reaching the second round of the Hobart International at the start of the year, the American suffered defeats at the Australian Open, in qualifying at the Abu Dhabi Open, the Qatar Open, the Dubai Tennis Championships, the Indian Wells Open, the Miami Open, the Charleston Open and the Madrid Open.

It doesn’t get easier for the 25-year-old as she faces eighth seed Ons Jabeur in the second round.