Wimbledon umpires hand down record number of fines for swearing and racquet smashing
Izzy Lyons, telegraph.co.uk
12 July 2019, 12:27
Wimbledom umpires have handed down a record amount of fines in the competition’s first week, suggesting that the Championships is set to have its worst display of bad behaviour yet.
Fifteen players were fined a total of $106,400 (£84,950) throughout the first six days of this year’s competition, already overtaking last year’s total of $68,000 (£54,300) enforced over the full two weeks.
The heaviest fine this year was given to Bernard Tomic, who was penalised a record $58,500 (£45,000) for lack of effort in his first round clash against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Tuesday.
Belarusian player Aryna Sabalenka was fined $10,000 (£7,990) for “unsportsmanlike conduct,” whilst $5,500 (£4,400) was levied against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev for the same offence after he attacked the grass court with his racquet and refused to shake the umpire’s hand at the end of the game.
There are a total of 24 offences that Wimbledon bosses can hold players to account for - including punctuality, dress code, swearing and abuse of racquets and balls.
In 2016, $93,500 (£70,700) worth of fines were handed out during the whole tournament, up from $62,500 (£40,000) in 2015.
Saturday’s play saw Italy’s Fabio Fognini say he wished “a bomb would explode” on the AELTC after he was scheduled to play on a smaller court.
Wimbledon CEO Richard Lewis said that there is likely to be a small fine for the “unfortunate” comment, adding: "It was one of those heat of the moment comments which is a very unfortunate and he was good enough to apologise straight away.”
The Wimbledon boss also suggested that the “bay boy of tennis” Nick Kyrgios could be fined for how he spoke to the umpire during his match on Thursday.
"Whether there's anything to do with some of the conversational discussion Nick had with the umpire, I think that maybe is worthy of scrutiny," he said.
12 July 2019, 12:27
Bernard Tomic, who was penalised a record £45,000 for lack of effort in his first round clash against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Fifteen players were fined a total of $106,400 (£84,950) throughout the first six days of this year’s competition, already overtaking last year’s total of $68,000 (£54,300) enforced over the full two weeks.
The heaviest fine this year was given to Bernard Tomic, who was penalised a record $58,500 (£45,000) for lack of effort in his first round clash against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Tuesday.
Belarusian player Aryna Sabalenka was fined $10,000 (£7,990) for “unsportsmanlike conduct,” whilst $5,500 (£4,400) was levied against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev for the same offence after he attacked the grass court with his racquet and refused to shake the umpire’s hand at the end of the game.
There are a total of 24 offences that Wimbledon bosses can hold players to account for - including punctuality, dress code, swearing and abuse of racquets and balls.
In 2016, $93,500 (£70,700) worth of fines were handed out during the whole tournament, up from $62,500 (£40,000) in 2015.
Saturday’s play saw Italy’s Fabio Fognini say he wished “a bomb would explode” on the AELTC after he was scheduled to play on a smaller court.
Wimbledon CEO Richard Lewis said that there is likely to be a small fine for the “unfortunate” comment, adding: "It was one of those heat of the moment comments which is a very unfortunate and he was good enough to apologise straight away.”
The Wimbledon boss also suggested that the “bay boy of tennis” Nick Kyrgios could be fined for how he spoke to the umpire during his match on Thursday.
"Whether there's anything to do with some of the conversational discussion Nick had with the umpire, I think that maybe is worthy of scrutiny," he said.
