The International Tennis Federation has banned Ilie Nastase from taking any further part in the Fed Cup tie between Romania and Great Britain after he reduced Johanna Konta to tears and forced her match with Sorana Cirstea to be suspended.
Nastase was ejected from the court after the incident, capping a controversial 24 hours in which the Romania team captain made inappropriate remarks towards his opposite number, Anne Keothavong, made an apparently racist comment about Serena Williams’ pregnancy and then delivered an astonishing tirade at the British journalist who reported it.
Konta was leading Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 1-2 in the second rubber of the tie in Constanta when Nastase became involved in an argument about noise from the crowd and was reportedly heard telling the umpire: “What’s your fucking problem?” The 70-year-old then appeared to call Keothavong and Konta “fucking bitches” before being ordered to leave the court by the tie referee, Andreas Egli. Nastase was later removed from the stadium for what the ITF described as “serious misconduct”.
Romania’s Simona Halep, who had beaten Heather Watson 6-4, 6-1 in the opening rubber, explained the situation to the crowd and the match briefly resumed – but it was soon suspended when a tearful Konta could not play on. She returned around 20 minutes later and fought back from 3-1 down in the second set to win 6-2, 6-3 and level the tie at 1-1 overall.
After the match, an unhappy Cirstea accused the British No1 of gamesmanship, suggesting her opponent had exaggerated her reaction to the incident in order to disrupt the momentum of the match. “Why did Konta start crying and saying she felt threatened at 3-1?” Cirstea said. “I’ve been called much worse all over the world … Just because she is crying the match is stopped? That is not fair to me.”
She added: “When she comes back on court she says: ‘I’m sorry’, so she knew she exaggerated. You don’t do this, you stay and play. We treated you guys [the British team] so nice. I don’t feel it’s right that you put all this on us because we’re a lower country than England [Britain].”
Earlier on Saturday Nastase had ranted at a British journalist, Eleanor Crooks, for two or three minutes while she was in the media centre. The former men’s world No1 called her “stupid” for reporting his apparently racist comment about Serena Williams’s pregnancy during Friday’s press conference, in which Nastase was overheard saying of Williams’ baby: “Let’s see what colour it has. Chocolate with milk?” Williams announced on Wednesday that she is expecting her first child with her fiance, Alexis Ohanian, who is white.
Crooks said: “He repeatedly called me stupid, asked me why what he said was racist I explained we simply reported what he said and that it was unnecessary to make such a comment about colour. He said the English were out to get him and called me stupid a few more times.
“Fortunately he was across the other side of the room from me and there were other journalists around so it was unpleasant rather than threatening. But it is certainly not the behaviour you would expect of someone in his position and wholly unnecessary, especially given he did not dispute the accuracy of what was reported.”
While being escorted from the stadium later on Saturday Nastase again confronted Crooks, who was filming him on her phone. “He then called me ugly off camera, just for good measure,” she said. “I’m glad the security were there to stop him getting any closer.”
In the same press conference in which his comments about Williams were picked up, Nastase made the British captain Keothavong feel uncomfortable with several inappropriate remarks. He asked for her room number as they posed together for a photo call while putting his hand tightly around her shoulders, and later said to the 33-year-old, who is married and 18 weeks pregnant with her second child: “We keep being attracted.”
After Konta’s victory, Keothavong condemned Nastase’s behaviour and said she was put in an awkward situation when he asked for her hotel room number. “What he said I am not going to repeat because it’s language that is not appropriate for anyone to speak to any other human.”
The ITF’s decision to ban Nastase from any part in the rest of the tie leaves his future as captain of the Romania team in serious doubt. The body said in a statement: “Mr Nastase was asked to leave the court by ITF referee Andreas Egli for unsportsmanlike conduct, having already received two official warnings.
“Mr Nastase was also removed from the grounds due to his serious misconduct. His accreditation was removed and he will play no further part in the tie. The ITF has launched an investigation into this matter as well as previous comments made by Mr Nastase during the week.”
After defeating Watson, Halep had offered support to Nastase over his comment about Serena Williams but added that he owed the American an apology. “He’s joking all the time and I’m 100% that was a joke,” she said. “I don’t believe that was something bad coming from him but I think it was not respectful a little bit with his comment. But we cannot get upset on Ilie, he’s like that and he’s with us the same.”