"I needed that": Feud with opponent sparks another five-set comeback for Frances Tiafoe in Paris

Frances Tiafoe has had to fight through three rounds of Roland Garros this year, with the No. 19 seed playing 14 sets across three matches and logging nearly 12 hours on court. But on Saturday against Portugal's Jaime Faria, contesting his second consecutive five-set match of the fortnight, the fight came to him when he and his opponent had a verbal argument over a disputed line call in the deciding set.

The situation occurred with Faria serving early in the fifth, with Tiafoe ahead 2-1. At 15-15, he hammered down a big serve down the T that Tiafoe couldn't handle off the backhand, before the American requested that chair umpire Marijana Veljovic come down to inspect the mark. She agreed that the ball touched the line—a call that unofficial Hawk-Eye replays on television confirmed—and awarded the point to Faria.

Despite the positive outcome for him, Faria seemed to take umbrage at the fact that Tiafoe was allowed to question the call at all, or how he did it.

"Don't act like you're tough," Tiafoe was soon overheard by on-court microphones. "You're not hard, bro. Just play."

"You see what he's saying?" Faria said to Veljovic, who came down again from the chair at the two players approached the net.

"This has to stop, all of this," Veljovic said, positioning herself between the two players. As the Portuguese world No. 115 could be heard saying the sequence of events was "disrespectful," Veljovic interjected with "you were as well" as she told both players to quiet down and encouraged the resumption of play.

Faria came back for more moments later to direct more ire at Veljovic, who flatly refused to entertain his request to issue a warning to Tiafoe for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Tiafoe later admitted he "needed" a spark to complete his 4-6, 6-7(2), 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-2 comeback. Earlier, he was down not just two sets, but also a break in the third set, with Faria having a game point for a 5-3 lead.

"I needed that, because I'm up at the time, but I'm still a little nervous," he said. "And he was chirping. He definitely gave me a lot of lip. He thought he was [boxer] Ryan Garcia or something."

Tiafoe's four-hour win put him through to the fourth round in Paris for the second year in a row, a feat last accomplished by an American man when Andre Agassi did it in 2001-03.