WATCH: Trouble spotted in Monte Carlo as Corentin Moutet denies shaking hands with umpire after a brutal loss against Alexei Popyrin

Corentin Moutet's poor run of form has pushed him to compete at the ATP Challengers this season.

WATCH: Trouble spotted in Monte Carlo as Corentin Moutet denies shaking hands with umpire after a brutal loss against Alexei Popyrin

Alexei Popyrin persuades Corentin Moutet to shake hands with the Umpire (Via Imago/screengrab X)

Despite what has been a ‘complicated’ season for French Corentin Moutet, he had to be pushed by Australian Alexei Popyrin to shake hands after crashing out in the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters.

For context, Moutet arrived at Monte Carlo with just two ATP tournaments to his name as he has been competing majorly at the Challenger. In his last tournament, at the Marrakech Open, he lost to India’s top-ranked player, Sumit Nagal, in the first round. He had done well in two clay events, Rio and Chile Open, and was hoping to win against Nagal after the first set but succumbed to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 defeat.

At Monte Carlo, he qualified for the first round after beating German Daniel Altmaier in the qualifiers 6-2, 6-4 and walked over in the second match after his opponent pulled out. However, his ultimately ended after he lost to Popyrin 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 at Monte-Carlo Country Club. But the spotlight of the match was his reaction following the defeat.

FS Video

The Frenchman was reluctant to shake hands with the umpire as his opponent, Popyrin, was seen encouraging him to go ahead. He finally went and shook hands with the umpire. Meanwhile, nothing was reported as to what led to Moutet not shaking hands with the umpire after his loss.

Regardless of that, Popyrin will play Andrey Rublev in the second round of the tournament with hopes of an upset against the defending champion.

Corentin Moutet’s poor run of form deepens this season

Corentin Moutet has failed to bring his A-game that saw him reach his career-high of No. 51 in November 2022. After the US Open last year, he began to feature more in ATP Challengers. This season alone, he has competed in three Challengers and is yet to win any of them.

Corentin Moutet
Corentin Moutet (Credits: Imago)

The French No.107 competed in the Napoli Challenger, reaching the semifinals before losing to Pierre-Hugues Herbert. In Zadar Challenger, he lost in the first round to Italian Alessandro Giannessi 7-5, 2-6, 4-6.

His only major success this season came at the Chile Open in February. Moutet defeated Chilean Nicolas Jarry in the quarterfinals but lost eventually to Alejandro Tabilo in the semifinals 6-4, 4-6, 5-7.

In case you missed it: