“I’ve gotten a lot of hate, which is pretty normal because I deserve it. I behaved quite badly,” said Atmane. “I’ve been struggling a lot mentally the last few weeks. The season was too long for me. I was struggling with my mental health, so it wasn’t 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 the tennis court at the highest level.”
“I want to deeply apologize to everyone because this is not the kind of behavior I want to show people.”
“So, for the love of the sport, I’m not allowed to do things like that. So first I want to deeply apologize to everyone because this is not the behavior I want to show people. I’m pretty disappointed in myself, but I’m happy for the people around me who have shown me that no matter what, they’ll love me for who I am.
Atmane threw his racket into the stands on October 5 in Shanghai in his first qualifying match against Bernard Tomic. A side barrier stopped it from 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 retired at 5-5 in the third set against Elias Ymer at the Jingshan Challenger after taking a 5-3 lead.
The next day, Atmane apologized on social media. He said his fall from the top 40 to the brink of the top 100 had left him “much more stressed and depressed than I could have imagined” and that he would go back to rebuild. At the time, he put his problems down to physical rather than mental health and said he couldn’t say whether his season was over. He reached a career-high No. 41 in April and was still in the top 50 in August.
The win over 86th-ranked Hijikata in Almaty came in their first meeting. It was also Atmane’s first indoor win on the ATP Tour, his first tournament in Kazakhstan and one of the last four events of the season.
“I feel amazing,” she said. “I’ve never won 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 No. 6 seed Thomas Martin Etchvery vs. Mattia Bellucci.