“This exceeded the limits of what an athlete should accept”: Corentit Moutet defends actions after heated clash with Chilean crowd

Corentin Moutet gave his side of the altercation he had with the crowd during his match against Alejandro Tabilo. The 25-year-old player faced a massive turnout of Chilean fans and claimed he was disrespected — including by a fan who "gave me the finger."

The 25-year-old shared his version of events two days after the clash against Tabilo. It was a rollercoaster match, where Moutet had everything under control in the first part. With the score at 7-5, 2-0, everything seemed to be going smoothly for a victory for the world No. 76.

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However, little by little, Tabilo started producing his best tennis — supported by the crowd — who also interrupted Moutet several times during his service games and explosively celebrated Tabilo’s points. The situation escalated as Moutet reacted and responded to the stands.

One of the most controversial moments occurred when Tabilo was serving at 5-3 in the second set and hit an unforced error, which Moutet celebrated by shouting “Chile, Chile, Chile” mockingly at the crowd. After that, Moutet was seen approaching the chair umpire, stopping the game. According to the Frenchman, this time it was because he expected someone in the crowd to be ejected after showing him the finger.

In the middle of the confusion, with Moutet refusing to return to the court, the chair umpire gave him a warning, then a point penalty — which handed the set to his opponent — and later a game penalty, which proved crucial for Tabilo to take the third set. Moutet then turned to social media to explain the situation.

"From the first point, the public was hostile: deliberate noise between my services, whistles, insults, provocative gestures…” Moutet wrote on his Instagram account. "Those who watched the match will be able to testify that I did not respond for an hour and a half, content to play and get back to the score. But the more the match progressed, the more aggressive the atmosphere became."

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“After two hours of play, without any intervention from the referee to calm the crowd, I reacted by raising my arms three times to encourage the crowd to make even more noise. At that point, someone gave me the finger,” the world No. 76 added. “I felt that this exceeded the limits of what an athlete should accept on a field. So I asked the referee to remove this person before resuming play.”

“Instead of listening to me, he ordered me to play, refusing to intervene. I then asked to speak to the supervisor, stating that I would not resume as long as this person remained in the stands,” he stated. “Result: the referee decided to penalize me and make me lose the set.”

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“When the supervisor arrived, I explained the situation. He left, then came back telling me that someone (whose identity he refused to reveal) was saying it was me who gave the finger. He then decided to penalize me again, taking a game away from me at the start of the third set, thus giving my opponent a break in advance.”

“Since this event, I have received a lot of criticism and insults. To say it doesn't affect me would be a lie. I have always given my best in my profession, invested enormous effort and made countless sacrifices to achieve my goals. I have learned to accept suffering as part of the journey, but I refuse to believe that being a public person means always having to be wrong and deserving of others' hatred.”

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