Felix Auger-Aliassime’s second-round win at the 2025 Mallorca Championships was marred by an incident that temporarily interrupted play. Auger-Aliassime and French rival Arthur Rinderknech’s match collapsed into chaos on Tuesday afternoon when two fans kept bombarding the players with explicit taunts from the stands.
Felix Auger-Aliassime Targeted by Abusive Fans in Mallorca Match Disruption
The alarming moment occurred during an otherwise routine ATP 250 tournament in the Spanish town of Santa Ponsa on the island of Mallorca. Second-seeded Auger-Aliassime, competing for the first time at the tournament, was subjected to a steady stream of French insults by two men in the stands.
While the language barrier initially hid the seriousness of the situation from most of the audience and the staff, both players, proficient French speakers, knew what the comments implied.
The men in attendance made loud and inappropriate remarks at points during the match, including while Auger-Aliassime was in the service position. The initial lack of action likely occurred because the Spanish-speaking spectators and officials could not understand the words being spoken.
Auger-Aliassime immediately halted the match and brought the matter to the attention of the chair umpire. Rinderknech confirmed the content of the remarks and supported Auger-Aliassime’s request for action.
Both Rinderknech and FAA telling the umpire to give a last warning to two guys who are constantly loudly interrupting play. “Last warning, next time: they’re out.” pic.twitter.com/7AsB9KGetq
— Del🇪🇺 (@Stroppa_Del) June 24, 2025
After some deliberation with the players and the umpire, an arrangement was reached that play would resume with a warning to the offending spectators. Security would escort them out if the behavior did not stop. As might have been anticipated, the abuse did not stop, and after a short stoppage, security personnel evicted fans from the stadium.
Update: security is now trying to remove those men. pic.twitter.com/HBvvS0Yzw9
— Del🇪🇺 (@Stroppa_Del) June 24, 2025
A video of the incident began spreading across the internet, with tennis fans and analysts commenting on the development on social media platforms.
A trio of spectators that heckled Auger-Aliassime in Mallorca is kicked out; FAA’s opponent, Rinderknech, gives them a piece of his mind before they are ejected
byu/Growsomedope intennis
Felix Auger-Aliassime Advances Amid Controversy
The match went on without any more drama, and Auger-Aliassime won 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 53 minutes to reach the quarterfinals. He will play Hamad Medjedovic in the quarterfinals, which will mark their first meeting on the ATP Tour. The victor of this match will face off against either sixth seed Gabriel Diallo or fourth seed Tallon Griekspoor in the semifinals.
“It was a good [opening] round,” Auger-Aliassime said in his on-court interview. “Playing on centre court here is a little bit different. [It was just] adjusting, and he has a great serve, so on grass, it is never easy. Two contested sets, but in the end, I came out victorious, so I’m really happy with the win.”
