Roger Federer Tries To Avoid Violation By Cursing In Another Language At Australian Open, Gets Caught By Multilingual Umpires

During the Australian Open quarterfinals, Roger Federer tried to avoid a violation by cursing in a different language but was caught thanks to multilingual umpires.

The incident occurred as Federer was falling behind in the third set of his match against Tennys Sandgren. The match was tied at one set each, but Federer took a strong 0-40 lead on Sandgren's serve. Federer then lost three straight breakpoints, allowing Sandgren to come back 30-40, causing the Switzerland native to let out a curse in frustration -- a word that sounded German, but that Federer later classified as "a mix" of languages.

Shortly after his curse, the match's chair umpire, Marijana Veljovic, issued a code violation against Federer. The swear was reported to the chair umpire by the match's line judge, who was located on the baseline, directly behind Federer.

"Violation: verbal obscenity warning Mr. Federer," the chair umpire, Velijovic announced, to which Federer responded by asking, "what did I say?"

In response to Federer, Velijovic said she couldn't repeat the word.

"So, you don't know?" Federer asked.

"No, I heard it kind of, but she heard it very clearly," Velijovic said as she pointed to the line judge.

Federer then went over to speak to the line judge about the violation where he asked again "what did I say."

The violation Federer was given is only a warning and would result in a point penalty if he received a second violation. After receiving his explanation, Federer lost the next point to make it 40-40 and eventually lost the final game point, falling behind 0-3 in the set.

After losing the game, Federer took a timeout and continued to pester Velijovic about the violation.

"If you heard it so clearly, why didn't you call it, you think she's 100 percent sure? She's from Switzerland, right?" Federer asked Velijovic while seated during the timeout. "She is sure, but you're not sure and she is the same distance. Give me a break."

Despite asking the umpire and line judge what he said multiple times during the match, Federer admitted to the curse in a post-match press conference while also explaining why he was frustrated.

"I mean I don't know [that] I understand. Back in the day, I feel like we could speak to lines people. Nowadays they tell me 'go speak to the umpire.' Okay, I'll go speak to the umpire, I walk across the court because they're not allowed to speak to the players," Federer said. "Honestly, to be frustrated at one point for over, I don't know, one hour and 15 minutes through the match, I think it's normal. I found it a bit tough."

"I found it a bit tough," He added. "It's not like I'm known to throw around words and whatever. It's not like the whole stadium heard it either, but no problem, I'll accept it."

Federer was also asked what language his curse was in, to which he replied, "it was a mix."

"Clearly she speaks mixed," Federer added alluding to the line judge that alerted Velijovic of his curse. "Next time I got to check the lines people."

Despite his code violation and frustration during the third set, Federer went on to win the match in five sets, erasing seven match points. With his win, Federer will move on to face the No. 2 seeded Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semi-finals on Thursday.