Jannik Sinner in confrontation with tennis fan during match vs Joao Fonseca at Indian Wells

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Jannik Sinner had an uncharacteristic confrontation with a tennis fan during his latest match at Indian Wells.

Sinner faced Joao Fonseca for the first time in a highly anticipated fourth round match in the Californian desert.

Experience showed in this first encounter between the two players, with Sinner beating Fonseca 7-6(6), 7-6(4), in a closely fought contest.

While the match was highly competitive, perhaps the main talking point came in the latter stages of the first set when Sinner was involved in a confrontation with a tennis fan.

Jannik Sinner calls out tennis fan in his match against Joao Fonseca

At 5-6, 40-15 in the first set, Sinner was serving to force a tie-break, before he turned around to confront a tennis fan behind him.

It could not be heard what was said between Sinner and the fan behind him, but the Italian appeared uncharacteristically annoyed on court.

This was then followed by chair umpire Greg Allensworth interjecting to ask Sinner what was going on, with the four-time Grand Slam champion seemingly irritated by the amount of conversation going on behind him.

Allensworth could then be heard saying, “Guys if you could just stop talking between the point we would appreciate it, but for now Jannik come on.”

There were some suggestions that the person in the crowd Sinner was annoyed at could have been Winter Olympian skier Nicholas Novak.

However, Novak has now taken to social media to clarify that it was definitely not him and in fact someone next to him.

He wrote in an Instagram story,” Sinner was yelling at the guy NEXT to me! NOT ME! It wasn’t me!”

Who is Jannik Sinner playing next at Indian Wells?

As Sinner now looks to move on from the conflict he had in his latest match at Indian Wells, he will now play another of the ATP Tour’s rising stars in Learner Tien.

Tien saved two match points in his latest win at Indian Wells against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, as he continues to improve on his impressive last 12 months on tour.

The American will likely have some confidence heading into his quarterfinal with Sinner, as Tien holds a very impressive record against top 10 players.

However, in his only previous meeting against the Italian, Tien was beaten by Sinner in the final of the China Open last year.

Tien will look to get revenge from that match on Thursday, March 12, when he plays Sinner for a place in the Indian Wells semifinals.