A French professional tennis player was fined more than he has won so far in 2023 because he took a ball out of his pocket and threw it on the court during a point to try to get a do-over.
LONDON (AP) — Hugo Gaston, a French tennis player, was fined 144,000 euros, which is about $155,000.
The ATP Tour fined him more than he had won so far in 2023 because he took a ball out of his pocket and threw it on the court during a point to try to get a do-over. This was his fourth unsportsmanlike conduct violation of the season.
The tour said on Monday that Gaston’s appeal of the sentence got it cut in half, to 72,000 euros (about $77,500), as long as he meets certain conditions, like not breaking the rules again during a one-year probationary period.
The ATP said that fines for unsportsmanlike behavior “go up by 100% for each violation in the same season.”
Gaston has won a little more than $120,000 this year on tour, where he has a record of 2-5. He is a left-handed pitcher who is 22 years old and has been placed as high as 58th and is now 108th.
Gaston tried to get the chair judge to call off a point and start over when he played Borna Coric in the second round of the Madrid Open on April 28. He lost 6-3, 6-3.
Gaston got a wild card into the French Open, which starts this Sunday, from the French Tennis Federation last week. In 2020, at Roland Garros, where he made it to the fourth round, he did his best at a Grand Slam. Last year in Paris, he made it to the third round.
