"So mentally fragile";"Karma is real" - Fans annoyed by Lorenzo Musetti's 'paranoid' complaints about Shanghai crowd days after racism controversy

Days after his racism controversy, Lorenzo Musetti has annoyed tennis enthusiasts yet again. The Italian was recently seen in action at the Shanghai Masters, where he made complaints about the crowd coughing between his first and second serves and fans were quick to slam his behaviour.

Musetti first got into hot water with tennis enthusiasts during the China Open, when he made seemingly racist comments towards the crowd. During his clash against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in Beijing, the 23-year-old took an issue with the audience in the stands coughing as he stated ‘they are always coughing, these f**king Chinese’.

Most recently, Lorenzo Musetti took issue with the crowds coughing yet again, this time as the Shanghai Masters. During his clash against Felix Auger-Aliassime, the World No.9 told the umpire

"I know I made a mistake and I said something wrong, but please say something to them.”

Reacting to this, fans were quick to slam the Italian, with one Reddit user writing,

“These players are so mentally fragile omfg.”

An X user criticized Musetti for his racist behaviour, writing,

“Bro karma is real…you said that you apologised just because “the audience expected me to apologise” but never understood racism is WRONG and sometimes you apologise doesn’t mean people have to forgive you🤫.”

asteroid

@lightthelight_7

“Bro karma is real…you said that you apologised just because “the audience expected me to apologise” but never understood racism is WRONG and sometimes you apologise doesn’t mean people have to forgive you🤫.”

Here is how other tennis enthusiasts reacted to Lorenzo Musetti’s comments:

“He's being paranoid. I don't think the Shanghai audience intentionally disturbed him, the crowd actually cheered when he played well. Nobody booed him, and many people still asked for his autograph. So I believe they were actually quite lenient with him,” one Reddit user wrote.

“LMAOOOO umpire should've told him actions have consequences,” an X user added.

“He’s insane but it’s genuinely so funny that if someone coughs during his matches from now he’s gonna be super paranoid and think they’re doing it on purpose to f**k with him😭😭😭,” one fan commented.

“Musetti gets rattled quite easily,” yet another Reddit user chimed in.

Lorenzo Musetti sets to return to action at European Open

Musetti at the 2025 Shanghai Rolex Masters (Image Source: Getty)

Lorenzo Musetti has delivered some strong performances in the Asian leg of the ATP tour. In September, the Italian reached the finals of the Chengdu Open and followed this up with a quarterfinals finish at the China Open.

Now, after his early exit at the Shanghai Masters, Musetti is scheduled to return to action at the BNP Paribas Fortis European Open. The event is slated to take place between October 13 and 19 in Brussels. Joined Lorenzo Musetti in the draw will be the likes of Joao Fonseca, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Zizou Bergs.