Frenchman Ugo Humbert has apologised to his Paris Masters semi-final opponent, Karen Khachanov, after clearing up a misunderstanding.
In front of his home crowd, Humbert fought back from a set down to claim a 6-7(6) 6-4 6-3 victory to qualify for his maiden Masters final on Monday.
However, after sustaining an injury in the third set, Khachanov was left unimpressed by the over-the-top celebrations from Humbert.
"At the net, I told him to be more respectful. He has no idea how to behave," said a furious Khachanov after the match. "I always play fair. I'll congratulate him when he behaves like a normal person.
"I have no problem with celebrating with the crowd, but if you see your opponent injured... Did you see me yesterday jumping and celebrating every point against Grigor? And Dimitrov wasn't even injured, just very exhausted.
"You can celebrate after with the people, you can do whatever you want, and injuries are part of the sport. However, celebrating in this way when the rival is on the ground? Fine, we'll see next time."
In response, Humbert claimed that he was completely unaware of the seriousness of the Russian's injury, taking the opportunity to express regret.
"After the physio's intervention, I thought it was cramp, as I was almost cramping myself after two and a half hours of intense play," Humbert wrote on Instagram. "I've lost other matches this year in similar circumstances and this time I remained very focused on the goal.
"I'm sorry to see that this has been misunderstood and even worse, described as a lack of fair play."
The world No.14 revealed that he contacted Khachanov personally to apologise in an attempt to clear the air.
"I have great respect for Karen and for all the opponents I've had to meet so far. This will serve as a lesson to me to act better in the future."
Comments