A French tennis player received a frightening death threat before a match at the Thionville Challenger on Tuesday. 

Arthur Bouquier, the No. 219 ranked men’s player in the world, posted a message he received on Instagram before taking on German tennis player Florian Broska in France on the ATP Challenger Tour. 

“You are playing against Florian Broska a ranked 522 who never wins in the first round I just hope you make the effort to take him out in 2 sets because I bet 2000 euros on you in 2 sets,” the message written in French read, as translated by Tennis World.

“I swear, if you lose, I will never forgive you. I will track you and your family down just to hurt you, even if it means going to prison. Might as well, because if I lose these 2000 euros, I’ll be out on the streets, so my life won’t make sense anymore. I might as well spend my days in prison.

“I swear on my mother’s life that I will come after you. Right now, I am at the court in Thionville, where you’re playing exactly at 15:20. Be careful. These are not empty threats. Good luck.”

In his post, Bouquier tagged the ATP Tour, ITF and the Thionville tournament. 

The trio of governing bodies have yet to address the incident. 

Bouquier would gwin the match in two sets, 6-3, 6-4, to move on to the second round of the tournament. 

Earlier this month, Bouquier won the Challenger Tour final in Lille, France after his opponent, Lucas Pouille, dropped out in the championship match after tearing his Achilles tendon. 

It was the third lower-level tournament title of his career and first of the 2025 season.