Roland Garros fines Adolfo Daniel Vallejo $65,000 for sexist remark about female chair umpire

Paraguayan tennis player Adolfo Daniel Vallejo has been hit with a $65,000 fine by Roland Garros after he said his second-round match should have been umpired by a man instead of a woman.

The 22-year-old, ranked 71st in the world, lost in five sets to French 17-year-old Frenchman Moise Kouame in the second round last Thursday. After the nearly five-hour match, where Vallejo led 5-2 in the fifth set before losing in a deciding tiebreaker, the Paraguayan criticized Brazil's Ana Carvalho, saying she was not strong enough to handle the heavily partisan crowd, and that such a match "has to be refereed by a man."

"It's a very demanding crowd and you need a lot of strength to go against the crowd," he told Spanish-language outlet Clay.

“The crowd was very out of line, but I understand they’re supporting their compatriot. It’s quite an intense crowd and that’s why I was prepared; I already knew it would be like that and, to be honest, it didn’t harm me, but rather strengthened him.”

A day later, Roland Garros and the French Tennis Federation issued a statement calling the comments "unacceptable" and that Vallejo would receive "significant sanction."

“The competence of an umpire is not determined by their gender, but by their professionalism and ability to officiate at the highest level,” the statement read. “The outcome of a sporting event, whether positive or negative, can never justify or excuse such remarks."

On Monday, Roland Garros tournament director Amelie Mauresmo told reporters that a fine "representing roughly half of his prize money" was handed down to the player. Players reaching the second round at the French Open receive 130,000 euros ($151,000). Organizers later clarified that the fine was $65,000 dollars, not euros.

"This is clearly unacceptable," Mauresmo said. "Once again, such remarks have no place here."

Vallejo, after claiming his comments were misrepresented, apologized in a post to social media, where he said that "my comments were not meant in the way they have been understood."

"I have respect for the umpire and for the job they do, after a [five-hour] battle I was very heated and with a lot of emotions, I apologize," Vallejo wrote on Instagram late on Friday. "I also want to clarify that I didn't blame the lost [sic] on her, she did a good job throughout the whole match."

"I will learn and get better with this," Vallejo added.