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Fabio Fognini has been fined $4,300 by Wimbledon officials after saying that he wished that "a bomb would explode" at the club — but Serena Williams will have to pay more than triple that after damaging a court.
Key points:
- Serena Williams damaged a court with her racquet during practice before the tournament started
- Fabio Fognini was fined for comments he made during a straight-set defeat to Tennys Sandgren
- Nick Kyrgios was fined over two separate incidents in his two singles matches
A seven-time champion at the All England Club, Williams was fined $14,340 after damaging one of the courts with her racquet during a practice session before the tournament got underway.
The 37-year-old advanced to the quarter-finals with a straight-sets victory over Carla Suarez Navarro, where she will take on Ash Barty's conqueror Alison Riske.
Fognini's outburst came during a three-set loss to Tennys Sandgren on Court 14 when the number 10 seed also referred in Italian to the "damned English".
The 32-year-old Italian apologised in his post-match news conference.
"If I offended anyone, I apologise," Fognini said. "That definitely wasn't my intention."
Richard Lewis, the chief executive at Wimbledon, told a press briefing that the club accepted Fognini's apology.
"It's in the heat of the moment," Mr Lewis said.
"It's an unfortunate comment but we readily accept the apology."
Fognini is still under a two-year probation stemming from when he insulted a female chair umpire at the 2017 US Open and got kicked out of that tournament.
However, as this latest offence was graded at the low end of the spectrum, he is unlikely to face a ban.
Nick Kyrgios also set to pay a hefty fine
Nick Kyrgios did not escape the attention of the All England Club fining committee.
The firebrand Australian was fined for unsportsmanlike conduct for incidents in both of his two matches at this year's tournament, totalling $11,500.
The Australian was fined $4,310 from his first-round clash with Jordan Thompson and another for $7,190 from his second-round match with Rafael Nadal.
These fines come hot on the heels of Kyrgios being fined $25,000 for his outburst at Queen's Club in the build-up to this year's Championships.
Kyrgios was also fined in excess of $30,000 for throwing a chair during a match at the Italian Open in May.
The heaviest fine of the tournament was handed to Bernard Tomic, who was fined over $80,000 by tournament organisers after his first-round clash against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lasted just 58 minutes.
However, Tomic is appealing the fine after claiming he was "a bit unwell" after travelling from Turkey the week before.
ABC/AP
Topics: sport, tennis, united-kingdom, england
First posted