Tennis fans Daniel Lee and Alex Lee Barlow think Michael Llodra got off too lightly for allegedly throwing racial taunts their way during his win over Ernests Gulbis at Indian Wells.
Canadian journalist Tom Tebbutt, who was at the match, reported that Llodra hit a ball out of court, threw his racket, and called Alex Lee Barlow a "f--king Chinese."
"He was looking directly at me," Barlow told the New York Times. "He didn't yell it particularly loudly. He was turned toward the baseline, toward us, and he looked right at me and said this comment."
The ATP fined Llodra $2,500. L'Equipe reporters said that Llodra thought the fine was too high and that it should not have been considered worse than swearing.
Lee Barlow was told that she would receive a call from Llodra on Monday, but Daniel Lee told TENNIS.com that as of 8 pm EST on Tuesday, he had not called her.
Daniel Lee thinks the ATP should come down harder on Llodra.
"I definitely don't think $2,500 is enough,” the Los Angeles-based Lee told TENNIS.com in an email. "It's just a slap on the wrist. One thing that isn't being stressed enough is that we were paying spectators—tennis fans—essentially giving him, a professional, money to watch him play. And in exchange for that, we were abused. It is entirely a different situation than a player abusing a line judge or an official, or a spectator abusing a fellow spectator. The last thing any tennis fan expects sitting down to watch the sport they love so much and have paid to see is for a player to target them with racial slurs. Another piece of information that is being misrepresented is that we are not Chinese! We are Americans of Korean decent. Alex was rooting for Gulbis in English, the only language she knows how to speak. We're lucky the slurs didn't come from a player we actually support, like [Rafael] Nadal or [Juan Martin] del Potro. Of course, neither one of them would ever act like Llodra did.
"Although it was a terrible experience, we managed to, at least in part, set it aside to try and enjoy the tournament (including Llodra's doubles match against Nadal/Lopez). I'm not giving up on tennis or on Indian Wells, but I believe that ATP should issue a formal statement condemning Llodra's actions and levy harsher penalties than what amounts to a token fine."
Llodra did speak to the Chinese news site SINA.com, in which he attempted to apologize. "My words were not aimed at China," Llodra said. "I love Chinese—I can totally make love with a Chinese girl."—Matt Cronin