Indian Wells star dangerously smashes ball into | Sports News

French tennis player Corentin Moutet began smashing balls into the crowd in frustration during his second-round Indian Wells loss to Holger Rune. It’s not his first moment of controversy, with previous encounters of racket abuse, unsportsmanlike conduct and a furious interaction with an umpire completing his track record.

Moutet, who had overcome Aussie Jordan Thompson in the first round, faced a far sterner test against 12th seed Rune. And with the 25-year-old a set and two games down in the encounter, his anger got the better of him.

With advantage to Rune and his service game about to be broken again, Moutet proceeded to send his first serve long. Rune returned the ball back but the call of ‘Out’ had seemingly riled Moutet up so much he smashed the ball in the crowd’s direct.

The umpire duly handed Moutet a code violation but it didn’t have any impact. Moutet repeated his mistake on his second serve to lose the game. But not before Rune once again returned the ball over the net to Moutet who proceeded to fire a low, angry missile into the crowd.

The second was directly at crowd level and the ball ricocheted off seats and onlookers. Moutet raised his hand in an apparent apology but the damage was done by that point – and viewers were not impressed.

One fan said: “That last one looked really dangerous.” Another, who claimed to be at the match, said: “I was at this match. He hit it HARD at the stands twice. First time went over the top of the stadium, but the second one almost hit an old lady at top speed. He got majorly booed.”

Another added: “This type of behavior should result in a default. I don’t mind Kyrgios acting like a clown on court, or angry people smashing their rackets, but harming others in the stands crosses the line.” While a fourth added: “Damn, what if he smacked someone in the throat or face with that second one?!?”

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The rest of the match was far from drama. Just two games into the contest it was suspended due to a system failure. Both players were forced to wait 20 minutes before play could be resumed.

And both players also wowed fans with two very different types of shots. Moutet pulled off a through-the-legs drop shot which clipped the net and left Rune with no hope of making a return. And the Dane himself produced a stunning forehand down-the-line winner after chasing back a lob to leave the crowd in a standing ovation.

The match finished 6-2, 6-4 to Rune who will face another Frenchman in the third round. Eighteenth seed Ugo Humbert will be his opponent on Sunday.