Fiery Italian stars almost come to blows in a heated confrontation where they shout and point fingers at each other over the net after marathon Australian Open match
Two Italian tennis stars have faced off in a fiery confrontation after their Australian Open showdown.
Fabio Fognini and Salvatore Caruso came close to trading blows in a heated exchange and had to be physically separated by officials following their thrilling five set epic at Melbourne Park.
The drama unfolded on the court moments after the match as they came face to face at the net.
The pair exchanged a brief handshake before things quickly erupted into an angry war of words over the net
Fabio Fognini (left) and Salvatore Caruso (right) had to be separated by a match official following their Australian Open showdown.
The altercation continued for several minutes as the pair returned to their benches as the pair continued to rant at each other in Italian as they wagged their fingers and gestured angrily at each other.
The pair were eventually separated by the supervisor as Caruso collected his gear and left the court.
A full transcript of what was said during the altercation has since gone viral online.
The ugly scenes were sparked by Fognini felt that his opponent got lucky.
‘You have been f***ing lucky, you should apologise, I didn’t disrespect you until now,’ a furious Fognini confronted his opponent.
‘You won four identical lucky points.’
The confrontation overshadowed Fognini’s 4-6 6-2 2-6 6-3 7-6(12) win to progress to the third round, where he’ll take on Australia’s Alex de Minaur on Saturday.