This incident captures the shocking moment a top tennis player verbally abused his opponent.
It happened following an intense match in Stuttgart between Fabio Fognini and Corentin Moutet.
38-year-old Italian veteran Fognini received a wildcard entry into the ATP 250 event in Germany. In the first round, he faced the challenging Frenchman Moutet, 26, a player recognized for his unusual on-court antics.
However, Fognini, who hasn`t secured a tour-level victory this year, might have wished he hadn`t accepted the wildcard.
He was clearly frustrated throughout the match, at one point even breaking his racket over his knee and throwing it away.
Moutet ultimately won the encounter 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, securing his spot in the second round against top seed Alexander Zverev.
After Fognini hit a backhand wide, Moutet celebrated the win by pumping his fist and pointing to his head.
As the players met at the net for the handshake, Fognini held on for a duration longer than typically expected.
After Moutet gave him a brief look, the former world No. 9 continued to stare intently in his direction.
The emotional player then said in French, “Regarde-moi, petit cochon!” which translates to “Look at me, you little pig!”
Moutet did not react to the insult but instead walked back onto the court to enjoy the applause from the spectators.
Earlier this year, Moutet was involved in another heated dispute with Alexander Bublik during the Phoenix Challenger tournament.
The chair umpire, Marta Mrozinska, had to separate the players at the end of that tense match.
As Bublik was escorted away, the Kazakh player was heard yelling, “You want to meet outside? Let`s go! You want to fight?!”
He continued, “The French kid is speaking and he doesn’t want to fight. Let’s go. We meet in ten minutes outside.”
Fognini, for his part, has a history of confrontations with Andy Murray.
There was clearly no affection lost between the two, and Fognini often presented a challenging match-up for the acclaimed Scottish player.
Famously, during a contentious match in Shanghai in 2019, Murray told the expressive Italian player to “shut up”.
Last month in Rome, Fognini announced that this season would be his final year on the tour.
When asked about memorable moments at his home tournament, the current world No. 117 cited: “Certainly one highlight is the night victory against Andy Murray when he was World No. 1.”
He added, “That one holds a special place, especially here in Rome, for sure. I would rank it among the top three moments of my career.”
He reflected, “I live for moments like those. That`s my character. I play with passion, and sometimes maybe too much.”
He continued, “But I think when I was playing my best tennis here, I think the crowd was truly happy to see me beating Andy. I beat Gael Monfils, I beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, I beat a lot of good players.”
