French tennis player Hugo Gaston has courted fresh controversy after retiring from the match when his opponent was on match point. Gaston was playing against Marco Trungelliti when the Argentine was only one point away from winning the match.
The Frenchman went head-to-head with Trungelliti at the Verona Challenger in Italy. It was the second time the players faced each other in their careers.
Gaston won the first set 6-3 before Marco won the second set 6-2. The latter was on course to win the match when Gaston retired.
Hugo Gaston just did this 😳
Retired being one point away from defeat. Very sus ending but not the first one on the Challenger tour pic.twitter.com/arapuL90JC
— Tennis Masterr (@TennisMasterr) July 25, 2023
When the scores were at 2-5, 0-40, Gaston retired abruptly. The player made his way to the net to shake hands with Trungelliti. Hugo’s behavior has not sat well with fans who want to see him penalized.
What a crook
— Stoic tennis 🎾 (@Stoic88888) July 25, 2023
Three times Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka also expressed his shocking views on it.
WoW
— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) July 26, 2023
Some fans also recalled his past controversies:
Not his first time with horrible unethical behaviour . Kick him off the tour
— Johnathan (@willyleafs) July 25, 2023
It may be true that Gaston really was injured. But if he had played the entire match, he could have just done the right thing and let Marco win, as he deserved to. The criticism his actions have drawn is valid.
Hugo Gaston breaks his silence about ‘cheating’ claims
The French tennis player finally spoke up since the ATP penalized him £63,000 ($81000 approximately) for throwing a ball out of his pocket during a match. The incident took place during his match against Borna Coric in the Madrid Open.
Gaston accepted the fine while refuting claims that he cheated during the game. He had initially declined to speak about the fine until he had spoken about his defeat to Alex Molcan at the French Open.
“Can we not speak about the match first, please? We’ll talk about the fine afterward, but let’s talk about the match first,” said Gaston. He did address the situation later, as promised.
“I didn’t talk on social networks because, of course, I knew somebody would ask me a question. But a lot of people have said that I wanted to cheat, and that is absolutely wrong,” he said (Via Express UK).
“All tennis players have actions that they don’t control. It was frustration. It was the end of the first set.” Hugo Gaston was initially slapped with a much higher fine, £125k ($161k) before the amount was reduced.
The 22-year-old clarified that it was the first time he had done such a thing. It just so happened to be his fourth unsportsmanlike act of the season. Gaston was a victim of ATP’s new violation policy, where the fine increased by 100% for each new offense during the season. Hugo Gaston should proceed with caution.