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By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday February 11, 2021

After a wild and woolly victory over Salvatore Caruso on Thursdsay night in Melbourne, Fabio Fognini and his adversary had a heated argument and it looked like they might get into a physical altercation until cooler heads prevailed.

The incident happened after the handshake, moments after Fognini had complete a dramatic 4-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(12) victory when Caruso complained to Fognini about his lack of respect.


Fognini’s level of anxiety grew throughout the match tiebreak and he questioned several close calls on Caruso's line-licking shots. To be fair, Caruso was playing out of his skull a bit, but Caruso really became upset when Fognini called him lucky.

It should be noted: Fognini saved a match point at 11-10 in the breaker and hit one of the most clutch backhands we've ever seen at 12-12 to earn his fourth match point, which he finally converted.

Here is the backhand we refer to:


After the handshake, Caruso, visibly upset, told Fognini that he hadn’t said a single word all match and that he didn’t appreciate the disrespect from him. This was the first all-Italian men’s singles match in Australian Open history, and it lived up to the hype.

Fognini didn’t want to hear it from Caruso, and the two had many words in an altercation that lasted over a minute.

Here, thanks to Twitter, is a transcript of what was said.

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