Nicolas Mahut was seen outwardly emotional after losing his third-round match against Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer.

The French tennis star’s sadness did not seem to go unrecognised by his seven-year-old son Natanel, who ran across the tennis court to give his dad a big hug as he sat with his head in his hands.

The retiring tennis star left all those viewing the beautiful moment at the French Open reaching for tissues, even his opponent, Mayer.

Mahut had fans back home rooting for him after beating Marco Cecchinato two sets down in the first round, before following that up with a smooth victory against veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber.

However, the 37-year-old sportsman lost against Argentinian Mayer, who won the match 3-6 7-6 6-4 7-6.

The wonderful moment even somewhat overshadowed world-famous Rafael Nadal’s and Roger Federer’s moments, which saw them both blazing through to the next round at Roland Garros.

Afterwards, Mahut told the media he found it really “emotional” to see his son on the tennis court.

“He comes on a win but also when I lose,” he went on to say.

“I have the comfort of my young boy. A lot of emotions. The tiredness of the match. My body was aching everywhere today. I finally, that match was over, and finally, he comes to comfort me.

“Normally he's the one who is crying, and I'm comforting him and today was the contrary. Very moving, indeed.

“The crowd were incredible. Coming out of the court from a Roland court hasn't happened so often to me in my career, and it's something I will remember forever.

“I tried to contain my tears, and to come out of the court holding my head high. I didn't see that. That's good if he was emotional, too. I'm happy about that.”