‘It seems like he doesn’t care’ – Corentin Moutet slammed for behaviour in defeat to Casper Ruud at US Open

Corentin Moutet was urged to show more focus and concentration after not producing his best performance in his US Open fourth-round loss to Casper Ruud.

But ultimately some questionable actions during the match overshadowed a promising performance.

In a bizarre moment, the world No.128 performed approximately 10 push-ups after a losing a point when leading 40-30 in the first game of the second set.

Moutet, a lucky loser, had beaten Stan Wawrinka, Botic van de Zandschulp and Pedro Cachin to reach this stage.

His showmanship soon turned to frustration when he hammered two balls into the crowd and received a point penalty. Ruud suggested the Frenchman did it twice and so he should have got a game penalty to which Moutet responded angrily: “Give it to him”.

In the fourth set, Moutet turned his ire towards the umpire after he received a time violation at 5-2 down.

“Every game, every single game,” he was heard shouting.

He continued: “I’m sweating, I’m playing tennis. I need my towel. Just think. One sec.”

His attitude did not impress the Eurosport panel. Barbara Schett said: “[He’s] so difficult to play against. You never know what’s coming up. The way that he behaves on the court as well. The way he plays his tennis. To keep that concentration level high is really a task.”

Alex Corretja continued: “He’s talking a lot to his coach. He’s looking around. And it seems like he doesn’t care that much.

“Some of the things he did today on the court, they were not good for him because he needs just to focus and believe that he can do better than what he did today, in my opinion.”

Mats Wilander said he was “very disappointed” in Moutet’s game.

“I agree with Alex that his attitude was not good for him. In terms of just tennis, he’s very talented, he plays very smart out there. But to see him from the beginning, not really believing that he has a chance to win.

“Of course you’re trying but not really emotionally believing and that was a bit of a surprise because the match-up for him should be pretty decent for him going to the Casper Ruud backhand.”

Schett added: “He showed a lot of frustration on the court as well and that’s something he has to work on.”

On performing the push-ups, Corretja said: “You don’t do that if your mind is on the court and focused; you do that because you’re somewhere else and you losing a little bit of concentration.”

Schett interjected: “Or maybe you’re playing too much for the crowd?

Corretja continued: “I don’t know. I mean he needs to learn from this match. The good thing about Moutet is that he’s such a talented player, he might realise and say, ‘okay I’ve reached the fourth round here, so maybe I’ve a bright future’. He needs to know how to calm down a little bit.”