Tennis Umpire Suspended For Coaching Player, Creeping On Ball Girl During Match

Tennis chair umpire Gianluca Moscarella of Italy was suspended yesterday for being an outrageous cheater and a creep during an ATP Tour Challenger match on Saturday. During the second-round match between Portugal’s Pedro Sousa and Italy’s Enrico Della Valle, the umpire coached and encouraged Sousa and also repeatedly tried to hit on a young ball girl.

After Sousa won the first set 7-5, Moscarella got down from the chair and told “dear Pedro” that the match “should be 6-1, 6-1.” He pleaded with him to stay “focused please.”

Then, early in the second set, he’s recorded telling the ball girl that she’s “fantastic,” “very sexy,” and asks her if she feels “hot ... physically or emotionally.”

In a statement the ATP said:

We are aware of a number of incidents involving chair umpire Gianluca Moscarella during a match between Pedro Sousa and Enrico Dalla Valle at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Florence last week. Moscarella was immediately dismissed from the tournament when the matter was brought to light, and a full investigation has been initiated. Meanwhile, Moscarella has been provisionally suspended from his services as a contracted ATP Official pending the results of the investigation.

Sousa went on to win the match 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, so while Moscarella probably got himself fired, he likely recouped some of the losses on whatever bet he probably made on Sousa.

h/t Robby