French tennis player accused of stealing Americans’ money over tickets

An American has lodged a police complaint against a professional French tennis player he accuses of taking $1,100 to secure seats at the French Open and never delivering the tickets after receiving payment.

The American told Newsweek he had been traveling with a relative to Paris to watch Rafael Nadal’s match at the French Open tennis tournament, also known as Roland-Garros, on Monday. The 25-year-old said in the police statement on May 27 that he had an exchange with Maxime Hamou, a formerly ranked tennis player with the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

The man from New York City, who requested anonymity on privacy grounds, told Newsweek that he encountered Hamou at a restaurant last Friday. He said he had previously played recreational tennis with the Frenchman, who had a career-high ranking of 211 in the world in 2015.

Upon learning that the Americans were hoping to snag tickets to the French Open to watch Nadal play, Hamou promised that he could obtain a pair of tickets for 1,000 euros, which is about $1,100, the American said.

The website of Roland-Garros warns against buying tickets outside official channels and says that those who do so are at risk of being denied access, of never receiving tickets and of paying an exorbitant price.

A purported exchange between the American and Hamou was captured in a series of Instagram messages. The American made the conversation available for Newsweek to review.

“Yes i have but is not free bro,” Hamou told the American.

“Course not,” the American responded. “Let me know how much they are.”

The American agreed to pay for tickets and specified that he wanted two seats for the Monday match at Center Court.

“For you 1000 (euros) + vip access with the player,” Hamou promised in the message. “1000 for 2 500 per ticket.”

The American agreed to leave the payment at a French hotel. Later, Hamou told the American that he had a friend securing the tickets. However, Hamou didn’t deliver the tickets, and neither did his friend, the American said.

Newsweek reached out to Hamou through Facebook and WhatsApp for comment. Hamou responded once to Newsweek through WhatsApp but did not confirm or deny the accusation made against him before he ceased responding.

Paris police referred Newsweek to the court system when reached for comment. Newsweek also reached out to the French tennis federation by email for comment.

In digital conversations through Instagram and WhatsApp made available to Newsweek by the American, Hamou instructed him to use a financial app called Revolut to pay for the tickets. The American asked Hamou if he could pay in cash or Venmo instead. Hamou then requested a bank transfer, saying that he had a tennis match to play the next day and couldn’t receive the money.

After Hamou allegedly received the money, the American asked several times if their tickets had been secured. Hamou told the American that he needed “to sleep tomorrow” and that he might not answer, providing a number for his friend instead. However, the number didn’t work.

“Brother I just have to know if we’re going today or not and our money has already been picked up so I’m not understanding?” the American asked.

In the conversations, Hamou blamed his friend for the miscommunication.

“Please between you and your friend return the money by 8:30pm tonight,” the American told Hamou. “Or there’s going to be a serious issue thank you.”

As of publication of this article, the American said the money hasn’t been returned. The American told Newsweek that Hamou stopped responding to his messages.