PARIS — Marco Cecchinato is basking in one of tennis’s brightest spotlights this week, having reached the semifinals of the French Open in one of the bigger recent shocks in the men’s game.
Winless in his four previous Grand Slam events, the 72nd-ranked Cecchinato has reeled off five wins this year at Roland Garros. He defeated the No. 10 seed (Pablo Carreño Busta), the No. 8 seed (David Goffin), and the 12-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic en route to becoming the first Italian man to reach a major semifinal in 40 years.
But before this week, Cecchinato was most well-known for an ignominious episode at a Challenger-level tournament in Mohammedia, Morocco.