Rennae Stubbs says it is “ridiculous” that Terence Atmane was not defaulted for throwing his racket at the crowd in Shanghai Open qualifying.

Days after Daniil Medvedev was disqualified from his semi-final clash against Novak Djokovic at the China Open for accidentally hitting a ball at a spectator, Frenchman Atmane has also been mired in controversy.

In his first-round qualifier for the Masters 1000 event, Atmane retired at 5-3 down in the third set to Bernard Tomic. Many have argued that the left-hander should have been jettisoned from the court long before then due to his antics.

Footage has emerged of the 24-year-old firing a ball into the crowd and then hurling his racket in anger at spectators in the stands. Fortunately for them, the railing stopped the racket from hitting an unsuspecting fan.

The chair umpire gave him a point penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct but former world No 1 women’s doubles player Stubbs says it is a farce that Atmane wasn’t defaulted.

Honestly, who was the umpire here? He should have absolutely been defaulted for this. To throw your racquet like that towards spectators and the only thing that saved them was the railing in front. ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!

— Rennae Stubbs ♈️ (@rennaestubbs) October 8, 2026

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She wrote on X, “Honestly, who was the umpire here? He [Atmane] should absolutely have been defaulted for this. To throw your racket like that towards spectators, and the only thing that saved them was the railing in front. ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS.”

Earlier this week, Serena Williams’ coach Stubbs called for a blanket rule on these sorts of incidents. Ergo, if you hit a ball into the crowd, just like Medvedev did, a player should be disqualified, as that will be the best way to stamp out this behaviour.

Incidentally, the former world No 41 later took to social media to apologise for his actions, with the French star explaining how his big drop in rankings has made him “more stressed” than he could have “ever imagined”.

While Atmane, who has dropped to 97th in the rankings, said that wasn’t an excuse, he has decided to take a break from the game for a while.

He wrote, “I’m taking this opportunity to apologise for my bad behaviour. A month ago, I was in the top 40, and I now find myself almost outside the top 100.

“That has made me far more stressed and under more pressure than I could ever have imagined. That doesn’t excuse my bad behavior. After what has happened on court in recent weeks, I’ve decided to take a step back and rebuild myself from scratch.

“Given my health issues (not mental, but physical), I can’t yet say whether my season is over. But I know one thing: whatever decisions we make, it will be the best decision. Thank you all for your support, and see you soon on the courts.”

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