Terence Atmane has now caused two controversies in as many weeks. Last week, he came under scrutiny for retiring in the final stages of his match against Elias Ymer at the Jingshan Challenger. Now, he has grabbed attention again for merely escaping disqualification and retiring again just a few points from the end of his match in Shanghai.

Atmane took on Bernard Tomic in the first qualifying round at the Shanghai Masters. Having lost the first set, Atmane levelled the match by clinching the second. But with Tomic leading 5-3 in the decider, the Frenchman surprisingly decided to retire, citing an illness. But the moment that made headlines came earlier in the match when Atmane hurled his racket towards the crowd in frustration. Luckily for him, the racket didn’t hit any spectator, and he was spared from a disqualification. He apologized for the incident later on social media.

“I’d like to take the chance to apologize regarding my bad behavior yesterday,” he wrote on an Instagram story. “Been inside the top 40 a month ago and see myself almost out of top 100 made me way more stressed and pressured that I could possibly imagine. It doesn’t excuse me for a bad behavior and after considering what happened on a court for these past weeks I’ve decided to take a step back and rebuild myself from 0.”

Atmane also revealed that he is currently suffering from some health issues, which have impacted his game. It is unclear whether he will participate in the remaining tournaments of the season or not.

“Considering my health issues (not mental but actual health) I can’t tell if my season is over yet but all I know is no matter what decisions we will make, It’ll be the best one. Thank you for the support and see you soon on court,” he concluded.

Atmane’s behavior during the match against Tomic was very questionable. After hurling his racket at the crowd, he was also seen throwing his towel in anger as he went off the court. The Frenchman also opted for a strange way to announce his retirement. As Tomic gained a break over him in the eighth game, Atmane straight up went towards the net to shake the Australian’s hand as he was about to serve for the match.

Atmane’s results have deteriorated in the hard-court season. His last victory on the ATP circuit came at the Cincinnati Masters. He got knocked out in the first round of the US Open by Jaume Munar despite being two sets up. He suffered severe leg cramps in the third set and wasn’t able to recover from them.

Atmane was then knocked out by Jaime Faria in the first round of the Hangzhou Open and is now out of the Shanghai Masters as well. Ranked No. 41 in April, he is now down to No. 99 in the rankings and will drop out of the top 100 if his form doesn’t improve soon.

While Atmane can be considered lucky for not being disqualified for his racket throw, the same can’t be said about Daniil Medvedev. Coincidentally, the Russian was involved in a very similar incident on the same day. But unlike Atmane, he wasn’t spared and was disqualified on the spot.

Daniil Medvedev got disqualified for hitting a spectator at the China Open

Medvedev was trailing Novak Djokovic 7-5, 5-3 in the semifinals of the China Open when an incident halted the match in the ninth game. After losing a point, Medvedev struck the ball as it came back off the wall. The ball hit a spectator who was sitting in the front row. The person was seen clutching his left eye and was soon escorted out of the gallery by the stadium staff.

The match was brought to an end as Medvedev was disqualified for the incident right away. Djokovic advanced to the final, where he will be up against Alex de Minaur. After the match, the Serb wished a speedy recovery to the spectator and also expressed sympathy for Medvedev, as he too has previously gone through a similar situation.

“Bit in shock after that one. An incredible battle, and grateful to be heading to another China Open final. Most importantly, wishing the injured spectator a speedy recovery. Also sending thoughts to @DaniilMedwed,” said Djokovic on X. “I’ve been there. See you tomorrow, Beijing. Idemooo”

The incident Djokovic was referring to was his controversial exit from the 2020 US Open. He was defaulted from his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreno Busta for accidentally hitting a line judge with a ball.