Corentin Moutet apologised after his defeat against Raphael Collignon in the opening match of the David Cup match between France and Belgium. Moutet, ranked 35 in the world, won the opening set against Collignon, ranked 86 in the world. However, in the second set, with the scoreboard showing 5-6 in favour of Collignon and 15-15, Moutet wasted a certified winner by trying to impress the audience hitting the ball between his legs.
Instead, the ball hit his knee and then bounced and crashed into the net, giving his rival a "free" point that eventually led to Collignon winning the set. Then, the Belgian won the third set (the match ended 2-6, 7-5, 7-5). Later, Arthur Rinderknech lost to Zizou Bergs and France was eliminated.
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While France could have been eliminated either way, the embarrassing mistake by Moutet left him heartbroken, and apologised several times in the press conference, and later on an Instagram post.
"I have done it many times in my career, people usually say I'm a genius when I do it, but now they will probably call me a clown. That's how I feel right now", he said, citing "the stress, the tension and the excitement of the match" as the reasons why he chose to do that risky move. "It seems stupid even to me, I don't know what to say", he admitted, but defended himself saying that "it's very easy to criticize when things go wrong, just as it is easy to say it's a fantastic shot when it goes well.
"Right now, I will try not to be too hard on myself, but I am aware of what happened, I also need to try to be honest with myself. In the future, I will try to make much better decisions than today".
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He later posted on Instagram that he feels he "failed his mission" after trying to give it all on the court, and that sometimes "the instincts betray him". He said sorry buy also thanked those who understood him. "I want to learn, now and always, I want to transform this pain in strength".