Furious tennis star snaps racket over his knee during Wimbledon match

French tennis player Corentin Moutet smashed his racket in a fit of rage after overhitting a routine shot at Wimbledon.

Moutet suffered a four-set defeat to American Marcos Giron on Court 9 on Tuesday in a first-round clash.

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With the match evenly poised at one set each and Giron 6-5 up in the third, Moutet hit his shot long to hand his opponent a 2-1 set lead.

It didn’t take long for Moutet’s rage to bear fruit and it was his racket that took the brunt of it.

The 27-year-old forcefully smashed his racket on his right thigh three times, snapping it in half.

And it appeared to do the job as he quickly regained his composure.

Although his racket was no longer of use to him, it served as a souvenir to one young spectator who was the recipient of the broken instrument.

It was a frustrating afternoon overall for the world No.30 who saw his Wimbledon dream come to an abrupt end.

He slipped to a 6-4, 4-6, 5-7, 4-6 defeat to Giron to bow out at the first hurdle.

Controversial past

Moutet made headlines earlier this month after swearing seven times during a BBC interview at Queens.

He was interviewed on court after beating fellow Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and dropped the F-bomb when describing how he felt when his opponent saved a match point with a 142mph second serve.

Asked not to repeat the word, Moutet repeated it a further three times.

He then apologised for his language before saying it a further three times leading to the interview to be cut short.

In response to a clip of the incident on Instagram, Moutet later wrote: “I was just joking, I hope you guys didn’t get offended. Thanks for the love.”

It’s not the first time the Paris native has found himself in hot water for his behaviour.

He was defaulted from the 2022 Adelaide International for swearing at the umpire after losing the second set against Serbia’s Laslo Djere.

The French Tennis Federation (FTF) also dropped him in November of that year which caused him to lose his financial aid.

“We cannot condone this type of behaviour. We ask our players and coaches for an exemplary attitude,” and FTF statement read at the time.