Not long ago I did a post about tennis players being fined for unappropriate behavior and gave a few examples, among which, was John McEnroe, who I know had a lot of trouble because of his behavior.
Today during my research I came across an article according to which Serena Williams was leading the top Ten List.
Serena Williams was fined a record $82,500 for her tirade at a line judge during a 2009 U.S. Open semifinal match against Kim Clijsters. While Serena’s foul language was bad enough –“I’ll take this ball and shove in down your fu%*ng throat” –the 17-time Grand Slam champion approached the line judge in what the tournament director, Jim Curley, called “a threatening manner.” There’s nothing serene about verbal abuse and racquet-brandishing. The drama began when Serena Williams, serving at 15-30, faulted on a first serve. On the second serve the line judge called a foot-fault, which made it a double fault and 15-40. That’s when Serena's meltdown began. Because of the outburst, the chair umpire awarded a penalty point to Clijsters. Serena lost the match: 6-4, 7-5. source
Yesterday I came across another article talking about another huge fine given to an Australian tennis player called Nick Kyrgios (24) who was fined $113.000 in Cincinnati on Thursday. During the match he was insulting the chair umpire repeatedly, then he asked for a bathroom brake and when it was denied, he left anyway.
While a few thousands of $ means nothing to them as they are earning a lot, the fine Kyrgios got represents 10% of his earnings in 2019, so you can imagine what it meant to him. Looks like he's pretty famous, this was not his first incident and he might be suspended by ATP. If this happens, he's not going to play at the US Open.
I haven't seen the match, so have no idea what happened but one thing is certain. Insulting the chair umpire is going to bring you nothing good. If he/she was wrong, there are other ways of protest. These matches are recorded, you can make an official complaint. As far as he leaving without permission, what can I say? No one is going to tolerate such behavior. There are rules that need to be respected. Looks like he need an anger management course to control his anger.
Good thing he knows he has a problem as he has admitted he's not professional enough to be a Grand Slam champion.
