THIS is the shocking moment a top tennis star branded his rival a PIG.
It came after a fiery meeting in Stuttgart between Fabio Fognini and Corentin Moutet.
Veteran Italian Fognini, 38, was handed a wildcard for the ATP 250 event in Germany and in round one faced tricky Frenchman Moutet – a player renowned for his quirky antics on court.
But Fognini, who has not won a tour level match this year, may have wished he wasn’t handed the wildcard.
He was driven to distraction during the contest, at one point, snapping his racquet over his knee and tossing it away.
Moutet, 26, went on to win the encounter 6-4 6-7 6-3, booking a round two berth against top seed Alexander Zverev.
After Fognini sliced a backhand wide, Moutet fist pumped and pointed to his head in celebration.
As the pair shook hands at the net, Fognini held on for a little longer than is customary.
After Moutet gave him a brief glance, the former world No9 continued to glare in his direction.
The fiery star then said in French “Regarde-moi, petit cochon!” – meaning “Look at me, you little pig!”
Moutet ignored the barb, instead walking back onto court to soak up the applause of the crowd.
Earlier this year, Moutet was involved in a furious exchange with Alexander Bublik at the Phoenix Challenger.
The pair had to be separated by chair umpire Marta Mrozinska at the end of the tense match.
As Bublik was led away, the Kazakh yelled: “You want to meet outside? Let’s go! You want to fight?!
“The French kid is speaking and he doesn’t want to fight. Let’s go. We meet in ten minutes outside.”
Fognini, meanwhile, has previously clashed with Andy Murray.
There was no love lost between the duo, with Fognini sometimes proving to be a tricky opponent for the legendary Scot.
Murray infamously told the flamboyant Italian to “shut up” during a heated Shanghai encounter in 2019.
Fognini confirmed in Rome last month that this will be his final year on tour.
Asked for his highlights at his home tournament, the world No117 said: “One is for sure the victory in the night against Andy Murray when he was No. 1 in the world.
“This one is in the special place, especially here in Rome, for sure. I’d say it’s top three in my career.
“I live for [those] moments. My character is like that. I play with passion, and sometimes too much.
“But I think when I was playing my best tennis here, I think the crowd was really happy to see me beating Andy. I beat Gael (Monfils), I beat (Joe-Wilfried) Tsonga, I beat a lot of good players.”
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