Chinese fans seemed to mock Lorenzo Musetti at Shanghai Masters, the Italian admits he is partly to blame

Lorenzo Musetti will try to forget his Asian tour, where he suffered two quarter-final eliminations at China Open in Beijing and Shanghai Masters, losing favour of the Chinese crowd after the Italian complained that "these damn Chinese are always coughing".

Musetti said those words during his first round match in Beijing, against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, gesturing the crowd pointing to his throat. An outburst he later apologised: "Dear Chinese fans, I would like to sincerely apologize for what I said in frustration yesterday during my match. My words were directed only at a few individuals in the crowd who were coughing repeatedly and disturbing the play. They were never, in any way, meant for the Chinese people.

I have always admired the Chinese people and I truly appreciate playing in your country. I have been coming back to China since 2018 and I always feel very welcome here", he added, but it was too late.

Two weeks later, in his quarter-final defeat against Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, he once again complained to the chair umpire about Chinese spectators coughing, as they seemingly were doing it on purpose to upset the Italian player. "Come on, it happens on every point. I made a mistake, OK, but this is not possible every point. It's too much. Say something."

Later, a defeated Musetti admitted that he felt nervous and not in a good emotional state. "This negative atmosphere, I partly created it myself. The month in China has not been easy; I never felt comfortable after everything that happened. In the end, it has ended up influencing my mindset, although I also had fans who were by my side, supporting me" (via Punto de Break).

"For me, it's a missed opportunity in terms of the Race and also in terms of results. It won't be easy to digest", Musetti added after losing 6-4, 6-2, although he didn't take any merit away from Felix, who "played well, especially with his serve, very aggressive".