Lorenzo Musetti was walking a tightrope at the 2025 China Open. After already stirring up major controversy with his comments about Chinese fans, the Italian found himself in another tense moment as he left the court following his withdrawal from the quarterfinals.
It all started during his tough three-set win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Friday.
Musetti lost his cool and made some really offensive remarks, swearing about "damn Chinese" fans always coughing and disturbing play. Making that kind of broad, aggressive generalization? Pretty terrible behavior that understandably enraged locals in Beijing.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lorenzo Musetti | 23 | 1,290 | 11 - 15 |
The 23-year-old did apologize and showed genuine remorse for his deeply offensive comments.
But the damage was done. Fans made their displeasure crystal clear during his next matches against Adrian Mannarino and Learner Tien.
Against Tien in the quarterfinals, Musetti was actually playing well. He won the first set and looked in control of the match.
Then an injury derailed everything. He had to withdraw in the third set, ending his tournament run.
Walking back to the locker room, Musetti knew he wasn’t getting a warm reception. The plan seemed simple enough – keep his head down and get out of there quietly.
Some fans booed him as expected. The No. 4 seed in Beijing looked ready to ignore it all until something in the crowd really got under his skin.
You can clearly hear someone yell "Go home!" in the video as Musetti suddenly turned back toward the crowd. But that seemed to come from near whoever was filming – meaning something else we can’t hear probably set him off.
Musetti stared at that section of the crowd for several tense seconds.
Then he made the smart choice. Instead of escalating things further, he just walked away to more boos echoing behind him.
That restraint was probably the best decision he made all week. After his controversial remarks just days earlier, any more angry words directed at Chinese fans could’ve really damaged his reputation permanently.
The French Open semifinalist now heads to the Shanghai Masters, where he’ll face more Chinese crowds.
He’s probably wishing this whole Chinese swing was over already. But there’s no escaping it until Shanghai wraps up.
Tennis players have been clashing with crowds and officials lately
Daniil Medvedev had his own drama at the China Open semifinals against Tien. The Russian was stunned when he got hit with a lack of effort violation despite clearly struggling with an injury that eventually forced him to retire in the third set.
Medvedev felt like his reputation as a troublemaker led to an unfair call from the umpire.
Sure, he acted terribly at the 2025 US Open against Benjamin Bonzi. But against Tien in Beijing? He was genuinely hurting and trying his best.
Carlos Alcaraz also had a heated moment with umpire Fergus Murphy at the 2025 Japan Open. The Spaniard got really upset about receiving a time violation, telling the Irish official he’d probably never played tennis in his life.
These kinds of tense interactions seem to be happening more frequently on tour lately.
