27YO Pro Instantly Apologizes & Avoids Disqualification After Kicking Racket Towards Crowd Mid Match

Daniel Altmaier landed himself in hot water in his match against Tommy Paul at the ongoing 2026 Hamburg Open. During the match, the home favorite grew frustrated in the middle, which boiled over yet again into a disqualification-level offense. The German star’s honest actions did save him from disqualification, but could not prevent him from an imminent exit to Paul in straight sets.

Altmaier came into this match with a lot of confidence, having won against the World No. 6, Ben Shelton, in the previous round. Paul, too, had won a wild match against Tomas Martin Etcheverry, saving multiple match points. However, the American player took early control in the match against Altmaier, breaking the German player’s serve three times in the opening set to clinch it 6-2.

Characteristically, the German lost his cool and smashed his racket on the court. After that, he started to kick the racket towards his bench, and the racket flew into the crowd. Luckily, no one was injured, and Altmaier was seen immediately apologizing profusely to the crowd. Even the commentators termed it a “nasty moment.”

Altmaier was lucky, as the chair umpire took no action against him on this occasion. A few days ago, Corentine Moutet had been so frustrated during his match that he pulled his shorts down in the middle of the court. We have seen Daniil Medvedev’s spectacular Monte Carlo meltdown after losing to Matteo Berrettini.

Daniel Altmaier Got Into Trouble at the Italian Open as Well

During his second-round match at the recently concluded Italian Open, Daniel Altmaier was involved in controversy once again. Altmaier was playing his countryman, Alexander Zverev, and at a crucial point in the match, failed to convert multiple break points. However, the way the German player expressed his frustration was quite unique: he hit the ball into the air with the handle of his racket.

Chair umpire Manuel Messina issued a code violation as Altmaier argued the call. The commentators in the match supported the umpire, stating that once Altmaier hit the ball into the air and it reached the stands, there was no scope for subjective assessment of the situation, and the umpire had to issue a code violation.

“The fact that the ball went into the stands, I think, meant the decision was somewhat taken out of the umpire’s hands, to a degree, if we’re giving Manuel a bit of an out here. Once that ball enters the stands, that’s the reason he’s given the code violation,” the commentators were heard saying.

On the court, the German player has had modest results this year, with his best result coming at the Challenger level, where he reached the final in Naples. On the main Tour, he reached the quarterfinals in Bucharest and Hamburg, which included some noteworthy wins over Ben Shelton and Dino Prizmic, who later beat Novak Djokovic in Rome. However, he also had 10 first-round exits, a telling sign of his inconsistency on the Tour.

It does not get any easier for Altmaier, as the draw for the French Open has put him in front of a serious challenge in the first round itself, as he is slated to face the fourth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime. The head-to-head is tied at 2-2, but given Altmaier’s form, he needs to raise his level to get the win.

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