Tennis on Film: Rating Borg vs. McEnroe (2017), an internationally awarded tennis film that doesn’t get enough credit

NEW YORK — Fabio Fognini, the newly minted husband of Flavia Pennetta (who happens to be the 2015 US Open champion), has been causing scenes in New York—and he's only played one match.

In the first round, he battled through a five-set comeback against Teymuraz Gabashvili, winning 6-7 (11), 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5, 6-4. First, he complained about the Russian's unusually loud grunting (comparing it to Victoria Azarenka's signature exhalations).

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Fognini about Gabashvili: "not even Azarenka is so loud" 😆 #usopen pic.twitter.com/uOQA0SYoHh
— We Are Tennis (@WeAreTennis) August 31, 2016

Then during the fourth set, he took the sunglasses off a lines judge. The Italian was given a point penalty for the brazen move, which greatly displeased him.

Just watched Fognini remove the sunglasses of a linesman and get a point penalty. He makes me feel good about my on court temperament
— Jon Levey (@levey_jon) August 30, 2016

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After the match, the world No. 38 called the US Open "the worst."

“They have their rules, the Americans are different in every way,” the 29-year-old said.“Of the four Slams, this, as far as I’m concerned, is the worst for a number of reasons.”

Fognini is set to face David Ferrer in the second round on Thursday afternoon.

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