“Then I’ll kill you”
Tennis player is supposed to threaten opponents in place with death
03.05.2025 – 8:06 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
“I’ll kill you”: Corentin Moutet reports on shocking statements on the tennis court – and feels abandoned by the association.
At the Challenger tournament in Aix-en-Provence in southern France, there was supposedly a violent incident: Frenchman Corentin Mouts accuses his Russian opponent Pavel Kotov to have threatened him on his place. The 82nd of the world rankings is horrified – not only about the words, but also about the reaction of the officials.
Moutet subsequently claimed on the X platform that the Russian had massively threatened him on the square. So Kotov said according to Moutet: “The next time you go online, I’ll kill you.” In addition, “one day someone will kill you.”
The contribution was later deleted, but the accusation remained in the room. Moutet publicly complained about the behavior of the referee and criticized the ATP player association sharply. He wrote to the World Association: “Not even a warning, apparently these words are allowed on the field. How can you expect me to get involved if you don’t do your job?”
Moutet finally prevailed 7: 5, 3: 6, 7: 5. So far there is no statement on the allegations from Kotov. However, the relationship between the two players was significantly tense at the latest after the game. After the last point – a successful network attack by Moutet – both waived the usual shaking hands. While the Frenchman cheered, Kotov left the place without comment.
Despite the later deletion of his contribution, Moutet commented on a tweet in which the statements cited Kotov again appeared. He wrote: “I will have problems sleeping …” – A clear indication that the incident is far from ticked off for him.