Tennis star Lorenzo Musetti has apologized to Chinese fans after an on-court outburst in Beijing sparked outrage.
The Italian world No. 9 was annoyed by coughing in the crowd during his round-of-32 match against France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard at the China Open on Friday.
In the second-set tie-break, Musetti lost a point to the Frenchman before shouting “these (expletive) Chinese are always coughing,” appearing to gesture to the crowd and pointing to his throat.
Local media also accused him of mouthing “damn Chinese.”
The outburst prompted outrage on social media, with accusations of racism leveled against the Italian.
“I would like to sincerely apologize for what I said in frustration yesterday during my match,” Musetti, 23, said Saturday in a message he posted on social media.
“My words were directed only at a few individuals in the crowd who were coughing repeatedly and disturbing the play,” Musetti continued in Saturday’s post. “They were never, in any way, meant for the Chinese people. It happened in a moment of stress and tension in the second tiebreak, but still, this is no excuse at all.”
Musetti went on to lose the tie-break, but eventually won the match.
Lorenzo is the second player this month to apologize to Chinese fans after American tennis player Taylor Townsend, who made comments about Chinese food that were widely criticized as culturally insensitive.
Townsend, 29, who was in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen for the finals of the Billie Jean King Cup, came under fire after she expressed shock and confusion at local delicacies served at a buffet, including bullfrogs and soft-shelled turtles.
“These people are literally killing frogs, bullfrogs,” she said in a video posted on her Instagram account that has since been deleted, adding that she would rate the dinner a “solid 2 out of 10” overall.
Townsend issued an apology shortly after, saying she had “had nothing but the most amazing experience” in China and that her previous remarks were “not representative of that at all.”
Musetti received a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct in June after accidentally kicking a tennis ball at a line judge during a win over Frances Tiafoe in the quarterfinals of the French Open.
“I really didn’t want to harm nobody, of course,” he said. “So I immediately went to the line umpire, and I of course said sorry. I apologize to everyone. It was right to have a warning.”
