The incident occurred following the Frenchman’s straight sets loss to Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas in the first round at Roland Garros.

The 21-year-old held the Eurosport reporter Maly Thomas around the neck and shoulder, pulling her towards him and trying to kiss her on the neck.

Thomas responded by ducking and shrugging away from Hamou’s advances, whilst holding her composure to perform the interview, but it soon became uncomfortable.

Subsequently the French Tennis Federation (FFT) has banned Hamou from the French Open and ordered an investigation.

"The management of the tournament has decided to revoke Maxime Hamou's accreditation following his reprehensible behaviour with a journalist yesterday," the FFT said in statement.

Hamou took to Facebook to express his sorrow for the incident.

"I have just spent a magnificent week here at Roland Garros... and I expressed my beautiful emotions as a tennis player crudely towards Maly, who I know and respect sincerely,” he wrote.

"I'm still learning every day from my mistakes to become a better tennis player and a better person."