Atmane apologizes for his gesture: "It's with tears in my eyes that I write this text".
Somewhat against his will, Terence Atmane found himself embroiled in the first real controversy of the French Open. Beaten after a tremendous duel with Ofner (3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, 7-5), he unfortunately failed to keep his cool. Under pressure, he sent a straight ball into the knee of one of the spectators (at 4-1 in the 4th set).
Although he was not disqualified, benefiting from the referee's leniency, he did apologize, in a message posted on Instagram: "Please forgive me for my emotional outburst and above all I would like to personally apologize to the lady I am currently looking for with my agent and the tournament organizers, so I can tell her straight to her face.
Of course, my first instinct would have been to go and apologize, but I was so shocked and disoriented by my action that no reaction came to mind... like a black-out where my brain 'switches off' and I can't think of anything else.
It's with tears in my eyes that I'm writing this text, because I'm an extremely sensitive person and finding myself in this kind of situation affects me deeply."
The Frenchman also offered to give a signed racket to the spectator concerned: "If she accepts the offer, of course".
