A post shared by Fabio Fognini (@fabiofogna)An Italian tennis player has apologized after repeatedly calling himself a homophobic slur during his Olympic tennis match.Fabio Fognini, 34, repeatedly shouted “frocio” at himself as he began losing points to his opponent, Russia’s, Daniil Medvedev, 25.
It roughly translates as “faggot.”The Russian, seeded number two, eventually beat Fognini 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 and now advances to the quarter-finals stage.
After the final point, Fognini threw his racket into a courtside trash can. His use of the word “frocio” was picked up by several on social media.Per chi avesse dubbi sulle parole di Fognini#giochiolimpici pic.twitter.com/r06LJqycHC— timmita (@timmita13) July 28, 2021The match lasted 2hours and 26.