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VIDEO: Massive Brawl Breaks Out After Top-Seeded Tennis Player Slaps His Opponent Exactly Like Will Smith Slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars

Published 04/05/2022, 1:45 AM EDT

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The start of the 2022 season hasn’t been an ideal one for tennis. Apart from some exhilarating tennis action, a number of violent on-court incidents have cast a shadow on the sport. Yesterday, another bizarre incident took place at an ITF Junior tournament in Ghana. The top-seeded player, Michael Kouame of France slapped his opponent, Raphael Nii Ankrah of Ghana after losing his first-round match. It reminded of the incident that took place at the Oscars involving Will Smith and Chris Rock.

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The Frenchman went down fighting against Raphael Nii Ankrah in a hard-fought three-setter thriller 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5). The loss didn’t go down well with Michael Kouame, who slapped his opponent while they approached the net for the shake of the hands. Moreover, it led to a massive brawl at the stadium as Raphael Nii Ankrah was a local player. Some spectators appeared to take action into their own hands and approached the court.

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Will Smith involved in a similar controversy at the Oscars

Prior to this incident, another similar incident took place at the Oscars ceremony. Will Smith slapped Chris Rock after the former was not happy about a joke that Chris Rock cracked on his wife.

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Soon after, he won the Oscar for Best Actor, his biggest achievement to date. During his acceptance speech, he apologized for his actions.

This season has seen many on-court controversies take place. During the ATP 500 tournament in Acapulco, Alexander Zverev hit the chair of the umpire with his racket after losing his first-round doubles encounter. He came agonizingly close to injuring the umpire. Subsequently, he was disqualified from the tournaments. He even received a hefty fine and his ranking points were docked off.

Recently, Nick Kyrgios was involved in an on-court outburst. He smashed his racket hard on the court. Unfortunately, it bounced off and came close to hitting the ball boy.

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WATCH THIS STORY: Will Smith Shows How King Richard Cast Trained Like Serena and Venus Williams

Due to these instances, the governing body has taken a stern review of the situation. ATP chairman, Andrea Gaudenzi, announced that stricter action will be taken for code violations in the future. Will this result in a decrease in such violent incidents? Let us know your views in the comments below.

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Written by:

Vatsal Shah

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Vatsal Shah is a tennis author at EssentiallySports. With a Bachelor's degree in engineering, he is a die hard fan of tennis and sports in general. He is an ardent follower of Rafael Nadal and is inspired by his never-say-die attitude.
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Edited by:

Niranjan Deodhar