PARIS (AP)—French player Michael Llodra lost his cool Monday during the second set of his first-round loss at the French Open, receiving a warning after throwing a ball at a female security guard in the stands.
The 22nd-seeded Llodra, who lost to Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, was then involved in an argument with chair umpire Mohamed El Jennati.
A TV footage of the incident showed the French player comparing the atmosphere on the court to a “souq”, a commercial quarter in Arab cities.
“We are not in a souq, we are not selling carpets in a market,” Llodra told the umpire after receiving his warning.
Llodra then told a new conference the umpire should not have warned him for the incident and should have instead called the security staff or told the female guard to stop moving.
Llodra, whose best result at the French Open is reaching the fourth round, felt the umpire’s decision was unfair and said he just told Jennati “to do his job.”
“I would have preferred to get the warning because I was getting restless on the court, which was not the case,” Llodra said. “I don’t think the umpire was doing his job. It’s too easy to give me a warning and it was useless. Anyway, it was not that serious.”
Llodra’s coach, Olivier Malcor, then told The Associated Press that Llodra has a really good relationship with Jennati and that the player didn’t want to offend the Moroccan with his angry comments.
“He probably used the word souq for brothel, because it was a real mess in the stands,” Malcor told the AP in a phone interview. “They know each other for ten years now and there is absolutely no problem between them.”
Tournament organizers said they won’t take any action against Llodra.
“It’s just a chair umpire call and Mickael Llodra’s comments following the incident put an end to the argument”, tournament director Gilbert Ysern said in a statement to the AP.