Michael Llodra Apologizes for Racist Tirade

French tennis player Michael Llodra has been in hot water all week for a racist rant at a fan over the weekend. His attempts to rectify the situation have fallen flat so far, and I fear his Rush-ed apology may only do more damage. Here's hoping something was lost in translation:

“I’d like to explain myself, regarding the controversy surrounding me and to reaffirm, above all, that I am of course not racist. I have already affirmed and justified that numerous times in the past! Everyone who knows me personally knows this very well.

Sometimes, on a court, when things aren’t going exactly the way I envisioned them, my annoyance leads to my using some very stupid expletives. In this case, the woman in question was quite far from the court, but a small group in the first row decided to make hay with it and report my words – distorting them, on top of that.

I realize that those words upset some people and to them, I’d like to apologize immediately. A high-level athlete who is a role model cannot say everything that goes through his head, even less when it’s vulgar language.

In my defence, the organizers had just scheduled my doubles right after my singles. This scheduling made my success nearly impossible. Indian Wells being an important goal, my tremendous frustration made me lose control of my language.

I would truly like to apologize for having wounded the Chinese community!”

'Some of My Best Friends Are Chinese Girls I Love to F**k'

The fallout from Michael Llodra's racist rant at a fan in Indian Wells continues to grow. After being fined $2,500 by the A.T.P. and supposedly agreeing to apologize to the woman -- who happens to be my friend's boyfriend's sister -- the apology never happened. Confounding the situation, Llodra then told the Chinese media that he had nothing against China, saying: “I love Chinese. I can totally make love with a Chinese girl.” (The New York Times says the interview was immediately cut off by the A.T.P. official monitoring it.)

The woman, who is Korean-American, says she has tried not to make a big deal out of the situation. But as time has passed, her anger has grown. She now thinks more should be done. Read what she told The Times HERE.

A very ugly moment for the sport. I liked Llodra better when he was the fun-loving guy who played Strip Tennis with his opponents.

Michael Llodra's Walk of Shame

Michael Llodra of France retired with a knee ailment today from his second-round match against countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. But I'm hearing that lefty -- who screamed "FUCKING CHINESE" at an Asian fan during his first-round match because he didn't like that the woman was cheering for his opponent -- has been fined $2,500 by the ATP for his racist outburst. French-speaking fans have since confirmed that Llodra also called her a "fucking Chinese cunt" in his native tongue. (How do you say "how lovely" in French?) Word is that he was supposed to be phoning her to apologize at 2 p.m., but he did not. At 4 he went on court, only to retire. He still has not reached out as of this posting. The tournament organizers, however, were very apologetic and offered her tickets to next year's event. For the record, Llodra is not only a racist, he's stupid. The woman is Korean.

Is Michael Llodra a 'Friend of John Galliano'?

My friend Scott in California tells me his boyfriend (who is Asian) was in the stands today at Indian Wells during the first-round match between Ernests Gulbis of Latvia and Michael Llodra of France. The boyfriend's sister was rooting for Gulbis, which prompted Llodra to scream at her: "Fucking Chinese!" The Frenchman went on to win, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), but not before a big "to do" occurred in the stadium and on Twitter. Pretty shocking and completely disgusting. Will the ATP take action against this vile behavior? Incidentally, this is not the first time Llodra has been accused of racist behavior.

Read the update HERE.