A French tennis player made all the wrong moves on Monday – and not just on the court.
After losing in straight sets to Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas in the first round of the French Open, Maxime Hamou attempted to plant several kisses on a female reporter during his exit interview. While some of the hosts of the French-language program “Avantage Leconte” that broadcast the moment live on the country’s Eurosport channel laughed at the situation, others, including French Open organisers, took the matter more seriously.
On Tuesday, tournament organisers banned Hamou from returning to Roland Garros for the duration of this year’s tournament.
“The management of the tournament has decided to revoke Maxime Hamou’s accreditation following his reprehensible behaviour with a journalist yesterday,” the French Tennis Federation said in a statement (via the Telegraph).
Hamou has not publicly commented on the incident was heavily criticised by viewers at home, as well as the reporter herself, Maly Thomas, who told Huffington Post France on Monday that the interaction was “frankly unpleasant.”
Thomas added (via a BBC translation): “If I hadn’t been live on air, I would have punched him.”
Footage from the interview shows Thomas stepping to get her microphone closer to Hamou, but when she approaches, the 21-year-old immediately puts his arm around her and attempts to kiss her neck. He can be seen attempting to kiss her several more times as she tries to duck out of his grasp. At one point, Thomas can be seen trying to lift his arm up to escape.
“He kisses her by force, she tries to get away, he holds her by the neck and everyone . . . laughs #tired,” French politician Cécile Duflot wrote on Twitter, criticising the Eurosport hosts’ reaction to the interaction.
Several of the hosts shown simultaneously on the screen can be seen and heard laughing as Hamou awkwardly restrains Thomas from moving away from him.
Eurosport executives did not immediately react to the matter on Monday, however, the company issued a statement on Tuesday noting (via Reuters), “We sincerely regret the incident that occurred during yesterday evening’s interview between Maly Thomas and Maxime Hamou.”
The French Tennis Federation said it will further investigate the incident.
