PARIS — Adolfo Daniel Vallejo lost his second-round French Open match to 17-year-old French player Moise Kouame 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (8) on Friday on Court Suzanne Lenglen. The four-hour, 56-minute contest was umpired by Brazilian official Ana Carvalho.

After the match, Vallejo made remarks questioning the suitability of a woman officiating such a high-stakes contest, saying: "This sort of match needs to be umpired by a man, it’s very difficult for a woman to do it." He added: "It has to be refereed by a man, because it’s a very demanding crowd and you need a lot of strength to go against the crowd."

Vallejo later sought to clarify his comments, saying: "I never spoke about women in general, I spoke about the referee specifically, who didn’t handle the crowd at any point during the match." He also posted on X (formerly Twitter) that his words had been "taken out of context."

French Open organizers swiftly condemned Vallejo’s remarks on Friday, deeming them "unacceptable." The French Tennis Federation and Roland Garros organisers issued a statement saying: "The competence of an umpire is not determined by their gender but by their professionalism and ability to officiate at the highest level. The outcome of a sporting event, whether positive or negative, can never justify or excuse such remarks." They also stated that they "strongly condemn all sexist remarks, regardless of who makes them, and offer support to the match umpire and, more broadly, to all the tournament’s umpiring officials."

Organizers confirmed that a sanction in the form of a fine would be imposed on Vallejo.