Tennis player Terence Atmane fires racket toward crowd and nearly hits spectators in epic tantrum

You don’t often see full-blown temper tantrums in sports, but when you do, it’s a sight to behold.

Given how Terence Atmane reacted on Monday after an unforced error, you would have thought he made the biggest mistake of his career at Wimbledon, not during the opening round of qualifying at the Shanghai Masters. The 24-year-old’s explosive outburst began in the third set, when he hit his forehand shot into the net.

Atmane did his best Rob Gronkowski impression and spiked his racket into the net. Atmane then reverted to acting like a spoiled brat, as he took a tennis ball out of his pocket and decided to obliterate it and launch it over the small grandstand.

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Terence Atmane tosses his racket during a match against Alexander Zverev at the Cincinnati Open at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, on Aug. 17, 2026. (IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)

However, his outburst wasn’t close to a conclusion. The irascible Atmane then took his frustrations out on the net, smashing his racket on the net cord three times.

After another unforced error later in the third set, Atmane changed things up. Instead of abusing his racket any further, he decided to launch it toward the crowd sitting in the stands.

The racket clanged off the metal bar and didn’t injure any fans, but the crowd audibly gasped at Atmane’s petulance, as the racket didn’t miss them by much. Incredulously, Atmane was only issued a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct and received a point penalty instead of being defaulted.

To cap it all off, Atmane retired from the match when his opponent, Bernard Tomic, was serving for the match at 6-4, 4-6, 5-3.

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Terence Atmane tosses his racket during a match against Alexander Zverev at the Cincinnati Open at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, on Aug. 17, 2026. (IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)

The tennis world was appalled by Atmane’s behavior, with some fans taking to social media to call for him to be banned from the sport.

“Should literally never be allowed in a tennis court again,” one user wrote on X.

“He should be banned. Worst I’ve ever seen,” another X user wrote.

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Terence Atmane returns the ball to Jack Draper in first-round play at IGA Stadium in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on Aug. 4, 2026. (IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)

“Throwing the racquet like that should earn an automatic disqualification, clearly cannot control his emotions and show any professionalism,” another user posted to X.

For Atmane, it was the second time in two weeks that he retired from a match. While playing Elias Ymer in a Challenger match in the third set in Jingshan, Atmane retired with the score tied at 5-5.