Lorenzo Musetti has become the latest tennis star to apologise to Chinese fans.
Musetti was troubled by coughing in the crowd when he won the Giovanni Mpetosi or a round of crowds at Beijing’s China Open on Friday. He imitated someone who cleans his throat after the point and said in Italian, “They cough every three seconds.” Local media also accused him of talking about “damn Chinese.”
“I would like to sincerely apologize for what I said in frustration during yesterday’s match,” Mumetti wrote on Instagram. “My words were directed only to a small number of individuals in the crowd who were coughing repeatedly and hindering the play. They never meant the Chinese people.
“I realized that the way I expressed myself was wrong and inappropriate, and hurting the emotions of many Chinese fans.”
Musetti’s explosion has prompted a surge in anger over social media, commenting on one of his previous Instagram posts, accusing him of being racist, along with shaming and slandering Italian culture.
American tennis star Taylor Townsend apologized on September 17 for making a light-paid comment about Chinese food before the US played Kazakhstan at the Billy Junking Cup Finals held at China’s Shenzhen.
Townsend had to post videos of local cuisine such as Bullfrog and Purtles, joke around and “talking to HR” about the quality of the food. She once again apologized to Instagram after facing backlash online, saying, “Everyone was so kind and very kind.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
