Terence Atmane has publicly apologized for his recent behavior on court, saying he had been struggling with his mental health. He spoke after beating Rinky Hijikata of Australia 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the first round of the Almaty ATP 250 on Tuesday.

The Frenchman, ranked No. 98, came to Almaty after a rough few weeks. He is trying to protect his place in the main draw of the next Australian Open. He said the criticism that followed his conduct in Shanghai was deserved.

“I received a lot of hate, which is pretty normal because I deserve it. I’ve been behaving pretty badly,” Atmane said. “I was struggling a lot mentally for the past couple of weeks. The season has been very long for me. I was struggling with my mental health, so it hasn’t been easy for me, but I was trying to get a fresh start after this tournament, because Shanghai showed me that this kind of behavior has nothing to do on a tennis court at the highest level.”

“I want to deeply apologize to everyone because this is not the type of behavior that I want to show to people.”

“So, for the love of the sport, I’m not allowed to do such things. So first off, I want to deeply apologize to everyone because this is not the type of behavior 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.”

Atmane threw his racket toward the stands during his first qualifying match in Shanghai against Bernard Tomic on October 5. The side barrier stopped it short of the front row and he avoided a default. A few games later he retired, trailing 5-3 in the deciding set. It was his second retirement in less than a week. He had quit at 5-5 in the third set against Elias Ymer at the Jingshan Challenger after leading 5-3.

The next day, Atmane apologized on social media. He said that his fall from the top 40 to the edge of the top 100 had left him “way more stressed and pressured than I could possibly imagine,” and that he would step back to rebuild. At the time, he put his problems down to physical rather than mental health and said he could not tell whether his season was over. He had reached a career-high No. 41 in April and was still in the top 50 in August.

The win over Hijikata in Almaty, ranked No. 86, came in their first meeting. It was also Atmane’s first indoor win on the ATP Tour, in his first tournament in Kazakhstan and one of his last four events of the season.

“I feel amazing,” he said. “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.”

Atmane will face the winner of the match between seed No. 6 Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Mattia Bellucci.