The Brazilian tennis player, Gustavo Kuerten, has apologised for throwing his racket at an umpire at the French Open in Paris yesterday -- an incident which led to his disqualification from the doubles tournament.

Kuerten -- who's the defending singles champion but has already been knocked out of that competition -- said he regretted what he did and never intended to injure anyone.

The racket missed the umpire and hit a spectator who appeared to remain unhurt.

Kuerten said he threw the racket in an attempt to relieve tension, but now regretted the incident and hoped it would make him more mature in future.

The incident happened while Kuerten was playing a quarter-finals game in the doubles with his fellow-Brazilian, Fernando Meligeni.