Moutet's foul-mouthed interview turns air blue at Queen's

France's Corentin Moutet left British television viewers stunned with a foul-mouthed outburst after his victory over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard at Queen's Club on Tuesday.

Moutet said the 'F' word seven times in a remarkable on-court BBC interview.

The 27-year-old had just beaten fellow Frenchman Mpetshi Perricard 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in a first round match carried over from Monday evening.

Asked how Mpetshi Perricard saved a match point with a 142mph second serve, Moutet said: "When he hits me at 142, I was like f***!"

When BBC interviewer Jenny Drummond told Moutet "no F-bombs please," the world number 36 replied "F*** f*** f***!".

Drummond said "no, no, no" and apologised for the language, well within earshot of fans, including young children, sitting in front of the Queen's Clubhouse.

"I'm going to ask one more question so please keep it clean," Drummond said, but Moutet answered it "F*** f*** f***!" again and Drummond cut the interview short.

When the cameras cut back to the studio, presenter Clare Balding said: "And just to repeat those apologies for everyone watching BBC Two and iPlayer.

"Corentin Moutet living up to his bad-boy image. 'Chaos makes the muses' is what he wrote on the camera screen there. It's a tattoo that he has as well. And, yep, chaos is what he can create."

Co-presenter Annabel Croft called Moutet's behaviour "appalling".

Moutet, who has never been past the fourth round of a Grand Slam, is likely to be fined by the ATP for his outburst.

He already had a reputation as one of the more volatile players in the men's game after a host of incidents in his colourful career.

At the Adelaide International in 2022, Moutet was disqualified for swearing at the chair umpire immediately after he lost the second set of his second-round match.

He was fined by the ATP later that year following a scuffle on the court with Adrian Andreev.

In November 2022, Moutet was expelled from the French Federation of Tennis (FFT), losing financial aid and his coach, after repeated bad behaviour.

"We cannot condone this type of behaviour. We ask our players and coaches for an exemplary attitude," the FFT said at the time.

Elsewhere at the Wimbledon warm-up event on Tuesday, Australian top seed Alex De Minaur beat Canada's Gabriel Diallo 7-6 (10/8), 6-3.

Czech second seed Jiri Lehecka defeated Poland's Kamil Majchrzak 7-5, 7-6 (7/4).
France's Adrian Mannarino enjoyed a surprise 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5) win over Czech rising star Jakub Mensik.

Britain's Cameron Norrie, playing his first match since pulling out of the French Open with a rib injury, went down 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 to Spanish fourth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Agence France-Presse