--- title: Maxime Hamou Banned From French Open After Kissing Incident description: The tennis player was banned from the French Open Tuesday after attempting to kiss a female reporter several times during an interview. canonical: https://time.com/4798880/french-open-maxime-hamou-maly-thomas/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-31T00:48:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:05:41.548Z og:title: Tennis Player Banned From French Open for Trying to Kiss Female Reporter og:description: "If I hadn't been live on air, I would have punched him" og:url: https://time.com/4798880/french-open-maxime-hamou-maly-thomas/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7b0b70fe729432f2/6988cf7c7cdbac0707d588e7/maxime-hamou.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3369 og:image:height: 1895 og:image:alt: TENNIS-FRA-OPEN-MEN og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tennis Player Banned From French Open for Trying to Kiss Female Reporter twitter:description: "If I hadn't been live on air, I would have punched him" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7b0b70fe729432f2/6988cf7c7cdbac0707d588e7/maxime-hamou.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tennis Player Banned From French Open After He Attempted to Kiss a Female Reporter Several Times > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Twice a week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 31, 2017 12:48 AM UTC  France's Maxime Hamou returns the ball to Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas during their tennis match at the Roland Garros 2017 French Open on May 29, 2017 in Paris. France's Maxime Hamou returns the ball to Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas during their tennis match at the Roland Garros 2017 French Open on May 29, 2017 in Paris. Eric Fefeberg—AFP/Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 31, 2017 12:48 AM UTC Tennis player Maxime Hamou was banned from the [French Open](http://time.com/4340377/roger-federer-french-open-roland-garros-favorites/) Tuesday after attempting to kiss a female reporter several times while she tried to interview him. “The management of the [tournament](http://time.com/4737964/first-major-tournament-sergio-garcia/) has decided to revoke Maxime Hamou’s accreditation following his reprehensible behavior with a journalist yesterday,”the French tennis federation said in a statement,[according to The Telegraph.](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2017/05/30/french-open-bans-maxime-hamou-kissing-female-interviewer/) Footage shows [reporter](http://time.com/4794385/paul-ryan-greg-gianforte-ben-jacobs-montana/) Maly Thomas trying interview Hamou, who lost his first round match Monday. Hamou grabs Thomas and puts his arm around her as she tries to ask him questions, before kissing her three times on the side of her neck. She laughs, and he does it again. She again tries to interview him and he responds before trying again to kiss her. She appears to be trying to push him away as she continues to report, but he pulls her toward him, and she pushes away. “If I hadn’t been live on air, I would have punched him,” Thomas told[ Huffington Post France, ](http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2017/05/30/maxime-hamou-maly-thomas-roland-garros%5Fa%5F22116940/)according to a translation[ from the BBC. ](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40097533) Hamou apologized on Tuesday in a statement [posted on Facebook.](https://www.facebook.com/MaxHamou/photos/a.671127099659584.1073741829.667147680057526/1118783831560573/?type=3&theater) According to a translation of the statement provided [by the BBC, ](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40097533)he offered “deep apologies” to Thomas if she felt “hurt or shocked by my attitude during her interview.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4798880/french-open-maxime-hamou-maly-thomas/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4798880/french-open-maxime-hamou-maly-thomas/"},"headline":"Tennis Player Banned From French Open After He Attempted to Kiss a Female Reporter Several Times","datePublished":"2017-05-31T00:48:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:05:41.548Z","description":"\"If I hadn't been live on air, I would have punched him\"","url":"https://time.com/4798880/french-open-maxime-hamou-maly-thomas/","keywords":["motto","tennis","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7b0b70fe729432f2/6988cf7c7cdbac0707d588e7/maxime-hamou.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7b0b70fe729432f2/6988cf7c7cdbac0707d588e7/maxime-hamou.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TENNIS-FRA-OPEN-MEN","caption":"TENNIS-FRA-OPEN-MEN","creditText":"Eric Fefeberg—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4798880/french-open-maxime-hamou-maly-thomas/","name":"Tennis Player Banned From French Open After He Attempted to Kiss a Female Reporter Several Times"}}]}] ```