French tennis player Maxime Hamou was banned from the French Open on Tuesday after he inappropriately made contact with a reporter after his first-round loss on Monday.
Eurosport’s Maly Thomas was attempting to interview the 21-year-old Hamou after his loss to Pablo Cuevas in straight sets when he put his arm around and kissed her multiple times despite her attempts to push him away:
French Open bans Maxime Hamou after he kissed and groped a reporter during an interview after his loss to Pablo Cuevas (?: @lynnlovestennis) pic.twitter.com/gcTLrZt2vN
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) May 30, 2017
After the incident, Thomas told Huffington Post France, “if I hadn’t been live on air, I would have punched him.”
The French Tennis Federation released a statement calling Hamou’s behavior “reprehensible.”
Maybe Hamou should spend a little more time focusing on behaving appropriately instead of tennis.