Corentin Moutet felt the wrath of the fans on the Andy Murray Arena after smashing a ball into the stands in frustration. With British No. 2 Jacob Fearnley on the other side of the net, French qualifier Moutet was already playing against the crowd.
But things turned sour when he hit a ball away in frustration after getting broken in the third and final set, with boos ringing out around the centre court at the Queen’s Club. And Moutet was hit with a code violation warning.
Moutet is a controversial figure on the tour. The world No. 89 has received plenty of code violations in his time and even been defaulted from matches. He once had his funding cut by the French Tennis Federation.
You can always expect some drama from his matches, and that was exactly the case when he faced Fearnley in the second round of the HSBC Championships at Queen’s.
Moutet, who came through qualifying to reach the main draw here, was able to force a decider after losing the opening set. But he got broken at 1-1 in the third set and became frustrated, hitting a ball away.
The fans started booing as Moutet returned to his bench, now trailing by a break. Chair umpire Adel Nour quickly announced a code violation for ball abuse.
“Moutet is going to be in all sorts of trouble here,” commentator Sam Smith said on the BBC.
And John Lloyd pointed out that Moutet was lucky to avoid hitting anyone. He added: “Certainly made sure he didn’t hit anybody in the stands with that ball.
“He hit that about half a mile away. That was a brilliant passing shot from Fearnley to break there.
“Here we go, this one went a long way up. Got to be careful when you do that, I remember Davis Cup with [Denis] Shapovalov. He did that but didn’t get the angle right and smacked it straight at the umpire. Immediate default”
Smith replied: “The minute you start hitting the ball about, even if it’s at the back netting, into the stands, you’re in big trouble and that’s an automatic warning.
“Very good umpiring from Adel Nour who has tried to also diffuse the situation. It’s always going to be tricky with Corentin on the court.”
There was more drama as the world No. 89 got a time violation while serving to stay in the match at 1-5 and told someone in the crowd to “shut up” when they called out.
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