"Alexander Bublik wanted to fight Corentin Moutet in parking lot": Jack Sock spills secrets of Phoenix Challenger controversy

Jack Sock, Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson recently dissected the scuffle between Corentin Moutet and Alexander Bublik at the recently concluded Arizona Tennis Classic. Moutet and Bublik almost came to blows during the quarterfinal of the ATP Challenger tournament in Phoenix.

Bublik was serving for the match at 6-5 up in the deciding set of his encounter against Moutet when they exchanged a contentious dialogue regarding the latter not being ready to return. The World No. 80 wasn't having it, though, as he told his younger opponent that "he didn't give a s**t" since returners are required to play to the server's pace.

Alexander Bublik eventually won the game and the match 2-6, 7-6(4), 7-5 to reach the semifinals in Phoenix. During their post-match interaction at the net, the players had an altercation that could've turned into a dust-up had the chair umpire and the supervisor at the Challenger-level event not intervened.

Against that background, former World No. 8 Jack Sock recently revealed during the latest episode of the "Nothing Major" podcast that the 27-year-old apparently tried to goad the Frenchman into a fight in the parking lot.

"He offered it, Bublik said let's go to the parking lot! He said, 'Do you want to go... we can go to the parking lot right now,'" Jack Sock said on the Nothing Major podcast (16:26). "He goes, 'Do you wanna fight?' And Corentin Moutet, like, started laughing as if it was... but I think Bublik was like ready to take the gloves off and go."

Former ATP pro Steve Johnson, meanwhile, claimed during the interaction with Sock and Querrey that the two players should've been allowed to settle the argument in whichever way they desired.

"Can we just let these guys go at it? This is ridiculous, looks worse than they're just talking to each other. Let them walk in the lockerroom, solve their problems and be done with it!" Steve Johnson said (16:18).

For what it's worth, the above incident is not the first time that Corentin Moutet managed to create mayhem on the court.

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"He is f***ed, he made his own bed" - When Corentin Moutet's ex-coach threatened Frenchman's 1R opponent Nicolas Jarry at Roland Garros

Corentin Moutet hits a forehand at French Open | Image Source: Getty

Last May, Corentin Moutet's coach at the time, Petar Popovich, had claimed in an interview with Tennis Majors that he and his ward had decided that the Frenchman's first-round opponent, Nicolas Jarry, would have "hell waiting for him". Their grievance with the Chilean had its roots from their quarterfinal encounter at the Chile Open a few months prior, where Moutet had been booed by a partisan crowd.

"All in all – Sunday, he (Nicolas Jarry) is f***ed! He made his own bed,” Corentin Moutet's then-coach had told Tennis Majors in May 2024. "We won that match in Santiago, but we were so disgusted with everything that we even had a conversation: 'When he comes to Paris, there will be hell waiting.' And I really hope that the hell will await, so that Jarry grows sick of tennis at least for a few weeks."

The then-World No. 79, cheered on by a raucous French crowd, eventually won the match 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0. The 25-year-old ended up reaching the fourth round of his home tournament, where he put up a good fight against second-seeded Jannik Sinner before losing 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, 1-6.