US Open opponents almost come to blows in heated incident

Two opponents almost came to blows in a heated argument courtside during the qualifiers for the US Open.

New York City plays host to the annual Grand Slam tournament at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre which begins in earnest on Sunday, August 24.

Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka will be aiming to retain their respective men and women's singles titles they won in 2024.

Australians Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson won the men's doubles titles last year, with the women's doubles crown claimed by Ukraine's Lyudmyla Kiechenok and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.

The mixed doubles champions have already been crowned, however, with the Italian pair of Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori defeating Poland's Iga Swiatek and Casper Rudd of Norway.

Ahead of the main draw, qualifiers have taken place and two men had a flashpoint during their match.

Argentina's Federico Agustin Gomez took on Hugo Grenier of France in their qualifier.

Gomez emerged victorious after close match against Grenier, with the Argentine coming from behind to win 6-7, 7-6 and 6-2.

He has set up a first round match against Great Britain's Jack Draper, which is due to take place on Monday, August 25.

But during his qualifier against Grenier, Gomez almost came to blows with his opponent after the pair had a heated argument courtside following the latter winning the second set to take the match to a third and deciding one.

After winning the second set, Gomez celebrated by jumping and pumping his first in the air, before gesturing a speaking motion in Grenier's direction.

The Argentine then pointed at the court surface - which could be interpreted as him claiming the match belongs to him - before repeating the speaking gesture again.

As the duo returned to their seats courtside, Grenier did not take kindly to Gomez's actions and a heated argument ensued between the two, with the Frenchman raising his finger to his opponent's face as tensions rose.

The pair had an exchange with both men using various hand gestures, before Gomez continued to talk to Grenier after the latter had sat down in his courtside seat.

It led to the match referee getting down from her seat and having to speak to Gomez in particular and ordered him back to his own chair.

The crowd responded with a mixture of cheers and boos throughout the argument - but even after Gomez returned to his seat, he continued to speak to Grenier and the match referee had to talk to the Argentine again to calm him down.

Though it is unclear what the specifics of the argument were about, the only part of the exchange which is clearly audible is towards the end when Gomez has returned to his seat and says in English 'this is nothing against you' and '7-6... I said, it's over, let's go home' and 'I have nothing against French guys, no-one'.