Fan fury as French tennis star breaks protocol with ‘garbage’ act but AVOIDS disqualification from French Open
TENNIS star Terence Atmane amazingly escaped punishment after he struck a female fan by firing a ball into the crowd.
The 22-year-old caused controversy when he performed the act at the French Open despite the point already being over.
Atmane took a two-set lead in front of his home crowd over Sebastian Ofner.
But he went on to lose the third and then fell a double-break behind to the Austrian.
Then, at 4-1 down, the ugly incident unfolded as Atmane took his anger out after hitting a return from Ofner’s serve long.
His fierce smashed forehand shot flew straight into the crowd and hit a female spectator sat watching.
That led to Ofner immediately calling for his rival to get disqualified as a stunned silence swept over court 12 at Roland Garros.
Then the umpire and supervisor came together to discuss the moment after the referee had gone over to check that the woman was OK.
Atmane had initially made his way to the net to speak to the umpire before he headed back to the baseline to wait for the restart of play.
But there was a 15-minute delay before Atmane was eventually given a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct.
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However, there were no further punishments dished out as the match was allowed to continue.
It did not take long for the incident to go viral with tennis fans left completely bemused that the angry ace had managed to avoid being disqualified.
A journalist named Jose Morgado fumed on X: “On court 12, Atmane hit a spectator with a ball in frustration.
“Ofner wanted disqualification, umpire and supervisor disagree. Surprised with this decision.”
While Fox Sports US reporter Chris Fallica said: “Really hope Ofner wins because this was garbage from Atmane. Should have been DQ.”
Despite the controversy, Ofner was able to advance to the second round with a 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, 7-5 triumph.
But he admitted his shock that his opponent had been allowed to continue as he said: “For me, it was a bit surprising, because if you do something like that on a small court, you have to be punished, you know?
“Because it’s not like you hit the ball normally. It was full power. The ball was so fast. Straight in the crowd. There were people disqualified for less.
“The referee said, ‘Oh, yeah, I was talking with the lady. The lady said at the beginning it was hurting but now it’s fine, and everything was OK. She saw the ball coming. So it’s not enough for disqualification.’
“I think if he would see how it was, maybe he would decide different. A little bit more unlucky and it’s going directly in the face. And then something can happen (like) a broken nose or whatever.”
Japan’s Miyu Kato and her doubles partner had to forfeit a game last year when she accidentally hit a ball girl in the neck following a point.
And Novak Djokovic was also famously disqualified in the last-16 of the US Open in 2020 after he hit a line judge in the throat with a ball when losing a key point against Pablo Carreno Busta.