(VIDEO) French tennis star who hit spectator at Roland Garros throws racquet across court in Challenger Tour meltdown

Tuesday, 29 April 2025 at 12:14

Death, taxes and meltdowns from Terence Atmane is what one social media said as the Frenchman once again courted controversy for racquet abuse during a Challenger Tour match on Monday.

While the world was going into a state of flux over power outages in Europe, Guangzhou was one of the only tournaments still in play with Terence Atmane facing home hope Rigele Te.

But Atmane was broken in the opening set after having three set points on return at 5-4 and spurning them. Obviously frustrated, he very nearly got defaulted as he hurled his racquet across the court.

Read also

Once Te had managed to seal the break, Atmane violently flung his racquet and one of the ball kids ran to go and pick it up instead of Atmane being reprimanded.

It is not the first time that Atmane has courted controversy though. Last year, he smashed a ball in frustration and hit a spectator but bizarrely was not disqualified for the incident which started a lot of conjecture about the incident at Roland Garros.

It seems though in similar vein to Andrey Rublev though old habits die hard and he was a very lucky man not to be defaulted. He ironically went on to win after seeing him off 7-5, 3-6, 1-6 and will now play Last 16 tomorrow. He has been in good form winning a Challenger in Busan just last week so will be one of the favourites to win it this week.

Terence Atmane throws his racket across the court after getting broken at 5-5 by Rigele Te.

Atmane had 3 set points on return at 5-4 (40-0).

🎥: @ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/KDYVyW2fdH
— edgeAI (@edgeAIapp) April 28, 2025

Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief

Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.

Based in Leicester, Samuel has a broad background in tennis media. In his current role, he works closely with editors and writers to ensure coverage meets clear journalistic standards, with particular attention to verification, consistency, and timely updates when new information becomes available.

See author's posts

claps 0visitors 0

Relief for Madrid Open: Set to resume as normal on Tuesday despite power outage continuing until early morning

"Glad that request didn’t go through": Coco Gauff thanks WTA officials for one reason after cementing spot in Madrid Open quarterfinals