Stefanos Tsitsipas blasts 'weirdo' umpire in ugly US Open outburst

Stefanos Tsitsipas has crashed out of the US Open, levelling an ugly outburst at an umpire in the process.

The eighth seed lost to Russian Andrey Rublev on Tuesday having unleashed a tirade against the chair umpire, who he called a "weirdo."

World No.43 Rublev, who two weeks ago earned the biggest win of his career when he beat Roger Federer in the third round at Cincinnati, attacked Tsitsipas with a barrage of forehands and broke his opponent five times in the 6-4 6-7 (7-5) 7-6 (9-7) 7-5 win.

But Tsitsipas, whose best showing at a grand slam came this year in Australia where he reached the semi-finals, received a coaching warning for his father's behaviour early in the third set at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

The Greek, one game after receiving a time violation in the fourth set, then became furious when the umpire would not allow him extra time on the changeover to change his bandana.

An angry Tsitsipas told the umpire: "You're a weirdo, you're all weirdos."

He also asked to be given a point penalty, which the umpire granted at 3-4 before Rublev went on to hold to love.

Tsitsipas levels ugly allegation at umpire

The 21-year-old, who reached a career-best fifth in the world rankings earlier this month, suffered his fourth consecutive loss this month and said after he felt wronged by the Frenchman officiating the match.

"This chair umpire, he has something against me. I don't know why," said Tsitsipas.

"I feel like some of them have preferences when they are on the court."

It wasn't clear exactly what Tsitsipas meant when he yelled at Dumusois, "You're all weirdos," but he clearly wasn't happy about the idea his vocal father might be coaching him from the stands rather than simply cheering him.

"The chair umpire was very incorrect in what he was telling me during the match," Tsitsipas said.

"I don't know what this chair umpire has in specific against my team but he's been complaining and telling me that my team talks all of the time when I'm out on the court playing.

"I believe he's not right, because I never hear anything of what my team says from the outside.

"My father outside, who usually does the talking, he's trying to pump me up by saying, 'Come on,' raising my confidence but not coaching, trying to boost me up."

Tsitsipas stopped short of calling it a factor in his loss but said he felt the impact.

"It's not very pleasant when you have the umpire give you warnings and time violations and coaching violations during a match," Tsitsipas said.

"It can affect your thinking. It can affect your decision-making. And I sometimes believe there is nothing to give there."

Tsitsipas admitted his loss to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open fourth round, a five-set thriller that took more than five hours, still stings.

"It was difficult," he said. "It's in the back of my head somewhere. I still feel it. I still feel the pain of that loss. I'm trying to erase it from my memory and move on.

"I want to be tough mentally and I want to constantly improve, become better. I cannot let things like that get into the way."

with agencies