Atmane had also retired in the middle of a Jingshan Challenger match less than a week earlier. He was taken to a third set by Swedish star Elias Ymer, and again blew a break in the deciding set. The world No. 98 got broken when serving for the match and stopped in the middle of the next game as Ymer advanced 4-6 7-5 5-5 ret.

The Frenchman’s behaviour in Shanghai attracted plenty of backlash, especially as he was not defaulted when he threw his racket into the stands. The racket did not make contact with anyone, but many pointed out that Daniil Medvedev was then disqualified from the China Open for showing less aggression or frustration.

Medvedev was facing Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals in Beijing when he hit a ball away during the final game, while the Serb served for the match. It unintentionally struck a spectator sitting behind the baseline, and because of the contact, he had to be defaulted.

Atmane has now made a winning return to competition, beating Rinky Hijikata 7-6(5) 6-2, and he addressed his “bad” behaviour in Shanghai, admitting he deserved the criticism. “I received a lot of hate, which is pretty normal because I deserve it. I've been behaving pretty badly,” the 24-year-old said.

“So first off, I want to deeply apologise to everyone because this is not the type of behaviour that I want to show to people. I've been pretty disappointed in myself, but I'm happy about the people around me who showed me that no matter what, they will love me for who I am, and they will do their best to help me get through that.”

He added: “I feel amazing. I was preparing myself for this tournament because it's one of the last four this season for me. So I was pretty happy to be here and get the win, especially for my first time in Kazakhstan, my first indoor win as well.

“I never got an indoor win on the ATP Tour, so I'm pretty happy about that. Of course, now that you get one win, you want a second one. I'm going to try to enjoy as much as I can today and prepare myself tomorrow.”