Corentin Moutet’s on-court antics are hardly a surprise anymore. Known for his fiery temperament, the Frenchman often finds himself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Just weeks after a controversial incident in Hamburg, Moutet was warned by the chair umpire during his Stuttgart Open match against Nick Kyrgios following a gear-drop episode.

It appeared Moutet was struggling to find his footing on the grass, a challenge many players face during the transition from clay. The Frenchman slipped three times during the match and was largely outplayed by Nick Kyrgios, who was competing in just his second match of the season.

To compound the matter, the Frenchman dropped his racket on the ground during the match, and got a warning from the umpire. The umpire then awarded Moutet a point penalty, turning the score 4-2 in favor of Kyrgios in the second set.

Moutet went on to lose the match, as Nick Kyrgios produced a surprisingly sharp performance despite having played only one match earlier this year. It was a rare disciplined display from the former Wimbledon runner-up: he did not face a break point, broke Moutet once in each set, finished with 24 winners against just 15 unforced errors, and secured his first grass-court win since Wimbledon 2022.

On the other hand, for Moutet, it marked another disappointing setback following last month’s defeat in Hamburg. While the Stuttgart incident was relatively tame by his standards, it still added to a growing list of on-court controversies. Just weeks ago, during his match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Hamburg, the Frenchman drew attention after dropping his shorts on court in a moment of frustration.

Following this, the umpire issued a code violation to the Frenchman for unsportsmanlike conduct. This is not all; the Frenchman is notorious for using underarm serves during his matches, often getting into a verbal duel with the crowd, and for on-court rants when the scoreline is not going in his favor.

Even though one might say that dropping a racket might not be a headline-making incident, Moutet has had past instances in which umpires have warned him for blatant racket abuse on court.

Corentin Moutet Has Been Guilty of Racket Abuse in the Past

Back at the 2024 Paris Masters, Moutet squared off against Ben Shelton in the first round. In the early part of the first set, the Frenchman lost his service after a long game, handing a 4-2 advantage to his opponent.

That is when the frustrations boiled over completely for Moutet, who then proceeded to break his racket into two pieces by snapping it over his knee. Par for the course, the chair umpire ruled the incident racket abuse and issued a code violation to the Frenchman.

Moutet then confronted the chair umpire and argued a double-bounce call that went against him. Despite being the local favorite, the crowd started to boo him because of his antics. To his credit, Moutet did save two match points against Shelton in the second set tiebreak to take it to a third set, where the American proved to be too strong for him.

The Frenchman had a great season last year, having two runner-up finishes in Mallorca and Almaty, and reached a career-high ranking of 30 this April. However, with a 3-7 win-loss record on clay, the Frenchman has dropped to No. 36 in the live rankings. He will have a decent amount of points to defend in Mallorca, which he needs to do if he wants to get a seeding at Wimbledon.