Terence Atmane Apologizes After Racket Throw Nearly Brings a Default in Shanghai Qualifying

Terence Atmane’s Shanghai Masters ended with an apology, not a result. The Frenchman threw his racket across the court during qualifying against Bernard Tomic, escaped the disqualification that would have followed if it had reached the crowd, retired a few games later, and then told his followers he is stepping back from the tour to rebuild, UbiTennis reports. He has fallen from No. 41 in April to No. 99, and the throw is what that slide looks like in public.

What actually happened in the Tomic match?

Atmane lost the first set, levelled the match, and unravelled in the decider. Tied at 2-2 in the third set, he missed a forehand and hurled his racket across the court in anger, UbiTennis reports. It struck the side of the court and stopped there, close enough to the barrier that a slightly different bounce puts it among the spectators.

At 3-5 down he retired, citing illness, EssentiallySports reports. It was his second retirement in two tournaments: at the Jingshan Challenger the previous week he had also stopped late in a deciding set, walking off at 5-5 in the third against Elias Ymer, UbiTennis reports. Qualifying draws are where rankings pressure concentrates, on outside courts far from the main-stadium attention that the Shanghai field’s top names are missing the event entirely.

Why did a racket that hit nobody nearly end the match?

Because the rule is about danger, not contact. Throwing equipment toward the stands is the kind of dangerous conduct that brings an immediate default when it connects, and officials judge the act, not the player’s aim. Atmane’s racket hitting the side wall instead of clearing it is the only reason the match continued.

The same Asian swing has already shown the other side of that line. Daniil Medvedev was disqualified from the China Open semi-final when a ball he hit struck a spectator in the eye, ending his tournament on the spot. Atmane was one bounce from joining him, and Coco Gauff’s week in Beijing, where a replayed point turned into a row about abuse aimed at a player, shows how quickly one flashpoint in China defines a player’s whole swing.

What did Atmane say afterwards?

He owned it, in an Instagram story reported by UbiTennis and TennisTemple. Paraphrased, his message ran in three parts: an apology for his behaviour the previous day, an explanation that dropping from the top 40 to the edge of the top 100 had stressed him more than he could have imagined, and a clear statement that the stress does not excuse the behaviour.

He then said he has decided to take a step back and rebuild from zero. Coming from a player who reached the last 16 in Miami this season and a quarter-final at the Acapulco 500, UbiTennis reports, that is not a scheduling tweak. It is a player stopping the slide before it becomes the story of his career, in a sport where video-review rows and conduct calls are now part of every big week.

Why does the ranking fall explain so much of this?

Because No. 99 is the tour’s trapdoor. Inside the top 50, Atmane entered Masters main draws automatically. At No. 99 he is back in qualifying, playing extra rounds on outside courts for the same events, with every deciding set carrying main-draw money and points he can no longer bank on.

He reached No. 41 in April and was still top 50 in August, UbiTennis reports, so this is a five-month slide, not a gradual drift. Two retirements in deciding sets, both while the match was still winnable, fit the account he gave of his own stress better than any opponent’s scouting report.

What happens next for Atmane?

First, rest, on his own terms. He said his health problems are physical, not mental, and that he cannot yet say whether his season is finished, UbiTennis reports. The calendar is on his side: he defends almost nothing for the rest of 2026, having won no matches after last year’s China Open, so stepping away now costs few points.

The open questions are whether the ATP adds a fine or warning for the throw, and which tournament he chooses for a return. Either way, the Shanghai clip will follow him into it: a racket an inch from the crowd is the image his rebuild has to outlast.