Two tennis stars came to blows at the net during an event in France before being separated by the umpire.
World No. 64 Corentin Moutet was beaten by Adrian Andreev of Bulgaria in front of his home crowd at the Open d'Orleans on Thursday.
Andreev, ranked 247th in the world, emerged victorious 2-6, 7-6, 7-6, before the two players approached the net as is customary at the end of the match. The pair were involved in a strong handshake before barging into one another, much to the shock of the crowd in Orleans.
The verbals continued as they made their way around the net and shoved each other again, with their rackets still in hand.
As the row continued, the umpire was forced to step down from his chair and intervene to diffuse the tension.
Moutet took to social media after the encounter and claimed that it was instigated by Andreev, who allegedly told his rival 'f*** you' twice. "I don't want to apologise for what happened late in the game," the Frenchman said.
'When a player allows himself to say 'f*** you' twice while looking me in the eye, I can't help but make him understand in my own way that these are not things that are done.
"He threatened me and asked me to wait for him at the exit of the court - something I did of course I have trouble finding him for 10 minutes. Indeed he was hidden on the other side behind 6 security people."
Moutet then called out his opponent, adding: " I heard your threats so when you get out of the room they hid you in I will be very happy to see you carry them out. So I'm waiting for you impatiently, we can talk calmly."
Andreev progressed to the last eight of the competition with victory to face off against Norbert Gombos of Slovakia.
