Gone are the days when Serena Williams and Heather Watson were slapped with hefty fines for smashing their rackets onto Wimbledon’s pristine grass courts. To date, this is the first tournament ever held at SW19 since 1998, when female players avoided infractions.
In what could be one of the best Wimbledon performances ever, so far only Brazilian Thiago Sebos Wilder has been fined in the past two weeks.
But on Friday, world number five Daniil Medvedev faced a penalty after an expletive broke out on center court during his semifinal match against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz. The 28-year-old Russian was warned for unsportsmanlike conduct after telling the referee “fuck you” three times. His rant aired on BBC One at around 2.20pm, hours before the 9pm watershed.
World number 74 Seyboth Wild, 24, was fined $4,000 (£3,080) for unsportsmanlike conduct on the second day of the tournament.
The other four male players are Terence Atmane, Tristan Boyer, Gustavo Heide and Denis Yevseyev fined for unsportsmanlike conduct during June’s qualifying round. Swiss player Alexander Richard was also fined for “misuse of racket and equipment” before the start of the match.
But no female players have yet been fined this year in either championships or qualifying, the first time since infractions began to be recorded in 1998.
Over the years, some of the sport’s biggest stars have been fined for ruining the elegance of the event.
In 2016, Serena Williams was fined $10,000 (£7,710) for slamming her racket onto the grass court five times during a match with American Christina McHale. The 23-time Grand Slam champion was fined again in 2019 after reportedly throwing a racket and damaging a grass court during pre-match practice.
Nick Kyrgios is one of the so-called bad boys of tennis and one of the BBC Wimbledon commentators who has received more than £450,000 in fines during his career. The 29-year-old has been fined $10,000 (£7,710) for spitting at spectators and calling a linesman a “snitch” at the 2022 SW19 match. He was further fined $4,000 (£3,080).
In 2019, former world number nine Fabio Fognini was criticized for saying he hoped “a bomb would go off at this club” after organizers placed him on Court 14, one of the venue’s smaller outdoor courts. Fined $3,000 (£2,310).
Newsletter Promotion Post
In 2016, Heather Watson was fined $12,000 (£9,250) for getting her racket stuck in the grass after losing to Annika Beck in the first round. Player No. 1 was fined the second largest single fine in Wimbledon history at the time.
According to the All England Club, four men’s singles players were fined a total of $13,500 (£10,400) in the first week of last year’s Wimbledon, excluding qualifying matches, including for making obscene noises and racket abuse. Device violations.
During the same period in 2022, players committed 15 offenses totaling $61,500 (£47,350). Kyrgios and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas were each fined $10,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct.
