‘Look at me, you PIG’ snaps controversial tennis star Fabio Fognini during tense handshake after defeat to Corentin Moutet at Stuttgart Open

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Fabio Fognini Stuttgart open At the Stuttgart Open, Fognini, the former world no. 9 playing on a wildcard entry for the event, called his rival Corentin Moutet a “pig”. (Screengrabs: X/Tennis TV)

He might be on his last leg of his tennis career, but the passions haven’t certainly dimmed for the 38-year old Italian player Fabio Fognini. At the Stuttgart Open, Fognini, the former world no. 9 playing on a wildcard entry for the event, called his rival Corentin Moutet a “pig”.

The incident came at the end of the first-round game, where emotions bubbled up. At one point Fognini snapped his racquet over his knee and threw it away. Moutet won the match 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, hit a ball into the stands to celebrate and walked over for the customary handshake.

Even as Fognini kept saying something to him, Moutet didn’t respond verbally, just patted his opponent on the back after the handshake, and moved away from him to shake the referee’s hand. Fognini hadn’t stopped talking.

Spicy handshake 🌶️@moutet99 wins the battle of the entertainers 6-4 6-7 6-3 vs Fognini 🍿#BOSSOPEN pic.twitter.com/75P18ZH0rW

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 10, 2025

Angered by something, Fognini reportedly snapped in French: ‘Regarde-moi, petit cochon!” – or “Look at me, you little pig!” He then allegedly added in Italian, “You’re a piece of s***!” The fracas has been reported by the Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, and others.

Fognini is no stranger to on-court controversy. In the Tokyo Olympics he apologized for yelling at himself with an anti-gay slur during a loss. “”Obviously I didn’t want to offend anyone’s feelings,” Fognini added. “I love the LGBT community and I apologise for the nonsense that I let out,” he had written on an Instagram post with a rainbow background.

In the US Open in 2017, he was ejected out of the doubles tournament for vulgarly insulting the chair umpire during his first-round loss in singles. He was then handed a suspended ban of two Grand Slam tournaments. Louise Engzelle, the Swedish umpire, had reported Fognini after he called her, in Italian, very abusive words, that can’t be reported here even with the usage of asterisks.

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