PARIS (AP) — Frances Tiafoe rolled his eyes as soon as the question arrived from a reporter, then called it “comical” that the player who beat him in the French Open quarterfinals on Tuesday, Lorenzo Musetti, received only a warning for kicking a tennis ball that inadvertently hit a linesperson.
“I mean, obviously, he did that, and nothing happened. I think that's comical,” No. 15 seed Tiafoe said after his 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 loss to No. 8 Musetti. “Nothing happened, so there's nothing really to talk about. Obviously, it's not consistent, so it is what it is.”
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United States' Frances Tiafoe and the chair umpire check the mark on the clay as he plays against Italy's Lorenzo Musetti during their quarterfinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Italy's Lorenzo Musetti plays a shot against Frances Tiafoe of the U.S. during their quarterfinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Italy's Lorenzo Musetti plays a shot against Frances Tiafoe of the U.S. during their quarterfinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
United States' Frances Tiafoe and the chair umpire check the mark on the clay as he plays against Italy's Lorenzo Musetti during their quarterfinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Unlike at most top-level tennis tournaments, which rely on electronic line-calling, there are still humans on court at Roland-Garros to make rulings on whether shots land in or out. That was a separate gripe Tiafoe had Tuesday, because there were some calls he argued, including one that TV showed he was right about.
It's happened in the past that players have forfeited matches for striking a chair umpire or a line judge with a ball and hurting them — whether on purpose or not. On Tuesday, the woman who was hit continued to officiate.
One of the most well-known examples of a player being disqualified came at the 2020 U.S. Open, where 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic angrily swung his racket at a ball between games and accidentally hit a female line judge in the throat.
Musetti — who won a bronze medal for Italy at the Paris Olympics and was a semifinalist at Wimbledon last year — had just dropped a game to trail Tiafoe 5-3 in the second set of their match at Court Philippe-Chatrier.
As Musetti was given balls so he could serve in the next game, he took a left-footed swipe at one and it sailed into a female line judge making calls behind a baseline. Musetti apologized, and the chair umpire announced that he was being given a warning for a code violation.
There is no penalty for an initial warning of that sort.
“Honestly, it was a really unlucky coincidence. I was a little bit, honestly, scared, because I really didn’t want to harm (anybody), of course. So I immediately went to the line umpire, and I of course said, ‘Sorry, I apologize to everyone,’” Musetti said. “It was right to have a warning, but I think the umpire saw that there was no intention about that, and that’s why probably (he) let me continue.”
Soon, Tiafoe claimed that set. But Musetti took the last two to earn his first trip to the semifinals at Roland-Garros.
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
United States' Frances Tiafoe and the chair umpire check the mark on the clay as he plays against Italy's Lorenzo Musetti during their quarterfinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Italy's Lorenzo Musetti plays a shot against Frances Tiafoe of the U.S. during their quarterfinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Italy's Lorenzo Musetti plays a shot against Frances Tiafoe of the U.S. during their quarterfinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
United States' Frances Tiafoe and the chair umpire check the mark on the clay as he plays against Italy's Lorenzo Musetti during their quarterfinal match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
NEW YORK (AP) — Kamala Harris “wrote off rural America" during the 2024 presidential campaign and failed to attack Donald Trump with sufficient “negative firepower," according to a long-awaited post-election autopsy released on Thursday by the Democratic National Committee.
The committee's chair, Ken Martin, shared the 192-page report only after facing intense internal pressure from frustrated Democratic operatives concerned with his leadership. Martin had originally promised to release the autopsy, only to keep it under wraps for months because he was concerned it would be a distraction ahead of the midterms as Democrats mobilize to take back control of Congress.
On Tuesday, Martin apologized for his handling of the situation and conceded that the report was withheld because it “was not ready for primetime."
Although the autopsy criticizes Democrats' focus on “identity politics,” it sidesteps some of the most controversial elements of the 2024 campaign. The report does not address former President Joe Biden’s decision to seek reelection, the rushed selection of Harris to replace him on the ticket or the party's acrimonious divide over the war in Gaza.
“I am not proud of this product; it does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards,” Martin wrote in an essay on Substack on Thursday. “I don’t endorse what’s in this report, or what’s left out of it. I could not in good faith put the DNC’s stamp of approval on it. But transparency is paramount.”
A spokesperson for Harris did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The initial reaction from Democratic operatives was a mix of bafflement and anger over Martin's handling of the situation.
“Why not say this in 2024, or bring in more people to finish it, instead of turning this into the dumbest media cycle for 7-8 months?” Democratic strategist Steve Schale wrote on social media.
The postelection report, which was authored by Democratic consultant Paul Rivera, calls for “a renewed focus on the voters of Middle America and the South, who have come to believe they are not included in the Democratic vision of a stronger and more dynamic America for everyone.”
“Millions of Americans are suffering from poor access to healthcare, manufacturing and job losses, and a failing infrastructure, yet continue to be persuaded to vote against their best interests because they do not see themselves reflected in the America of the Democratic Party,” the report says.
The autopsy points to a reduction in support and training for Democratic state parties, voter registration shifts and “a persistent inability or unwillingness to listen to all voters.”
Thursday's release comes as Martin confronts a crisis of confidence among party officials who are increasingly concerned about the health of their political machine barely a year into his term. Some Democratic operatives have had informal discussions about recruiting a new chair, even though most believe that Martin’s job wasn't in serious jeopardy ahead of the midterm elections.
The report found that Harris and her allies failed to focus enough on Trump's negatives, especially his felony convictions. This was part of a broader criticism that Democrats' messaging is too focused on reason and winning arguments, “even in cycles when the electorate is defined by rage.”
“There was a decision in the 2024 Democratic leadership not to engage in negative advertising at the scale required,” the report states. “The Trump campaign and supportive Super PACs went full throttle against Vice President Harris, but there was not sufficient or similar negative firepower directed at Trump by Democrats.”
The report continues: “It was essential to prosecute a more effective case as to why Trump should have been disqualified from ever again taking office. The grounds were there, but the messaging did not make the case.”
Trump's attack on Harris' transgender policies were cited as a key contrast.
Specifically, the report suggested the Democratic nominee was “boxed” in by the Trump campaign's “very effective” ad that highlighted Harris' previous statement of support for taxpayer-funded gender-affirming surgeries for prison inmates.
Democratic pollsters believed that “if the Vice President would not change her position – and she did not – then there was nothing which would have worked as a response," the report said.
The report criticized Harris' outreach to key segments of America while condemning the party's focus on “identity politics.”
“Harris wrote off rural America, assuming urban/suburban margins would compensate. The math doesn’t work,” the report says. “You can’t lose rural areas by overwhelming margins and make it up elsewhere when rural voters are a significant share of the electorate. If Democrats are to reclaim leadership in the Heartland or the South, candidates must perform well in rural turf. Show up, listen, and then do it again.”
The report also references Democrats' underperformance with male voters of color.
“Male voters require direct engagement. The gender gap can be narrowed. Deploy male messengers, address economic concerns, and don’t assume identity politics will hold male voters of color,” it says.
President Donald Trump speaks during an event about loosening a federal refrigerant rule, in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a fireside chat on Thursday, May 7, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
FILE - Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at DNC headquarters, Jan. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert, File)
