The recent Fed Cup match between Great Britain and Romania ended in a victory for Romania. However, things turned ugly when Romania captain Ilie Nastase started swearing at match officials, GB captain Anne Keothavong and world no. 7 Johanna Konta. The incident left Konta in tears.
Nastase was heard calling Keothavong and Konta "f******* b******" after the British team complained about calls from the crowd during points. The former world no. 1 was expelled from the World Group II play-off against Great Britain and refused to apologise for his insults.
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"I was just trying to promote the interest of my girl. The English player just stormed off without even asking permission to leave the court and I admit that's when I called her a b****. She kept trying to keep the crowd quiet -- but it's not an opera it's a game," ESPN quoted Nastase as saying.
"I don't need this bull****. I'm 70 years old. I don't even get paid for being team captain. I don't give a s*** if they fine me or don't let me sit in the captain's chair. Remember I was world No. 1. If you throw someone out who was a world No. 1, it's not good for tennis."
Checkout the whole incident involving Ilie Nastase and his insults right here
Tennis great Ilie Nastase has been dumped as Romania's Fed Cup captain after a foul-mouthed rant directed at Britain's Johanna Konta. #7News pic.twitter.com/AqsFutirhn
— 7 News Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) 23 April 2017
Following the incident, Nastase was provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) pending further investigation. But according to reports he is set to face a heavy punishment and also a fine. Nastase is already being investigated for making racist comments about Serena Williams' unborn baby. He said: "Let's see what colour it has. Chocolate with milk?"
The Romanian did not apologise for that too saying: "I don't know what all the fuss is about."
The Romanian players were angered by the fact that Konta was allowed to stop her match against Sorana Cirstea mid way after Nastase's insults but Konta defended herself.
"With all due respect to Sorana, she was not in my shoes on that end of the court being verbally threatened. Any abuse is not all right - whether it's on social media - but when it's a couple of metres away from you, screaming at you, I think that's a different ball game," Konta said.
