Recently, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) issued the 18th racket of the world, American Francis Tiafoe, a huge fine for a scandalous incident a month ago. On October 8, at the Shanghai Masters, Tiafoe dramatically lost to Russian Roman Safiullin, and after the meeting he could not restrain himself and cursed at the judge. As a result, the anger cost the American dearly: he will have to pay as much as 120 thousand dollars.

Apologies didn’t help

The reason for Tiafoe’s emotional reaction was the decision of the chair umpire to deprive him of the right to first serve in the third set tiebreaker. With the score 5:5, the American spent a long time preparing for the rally and received a warning for taking too long. This was already the third similar reprimand for Francis in the decisive set, so the serve passed to Safiullin. The Russian took advantage of this chance brilliantly, taking the next rally, and at the same time the decisive game.

After a tense match, the tennis players shook hands, but Tiafoe still had the strength to sort things out with the judge. Francis shouted at the offender several times in an obscene manner: “Fuck you!”

Frances Tiafoe / Photo: © DeFodi Images / Contributor / DeFodi Images / Gettyimages.ru

It must be said that Tiafoe found the strength to apologize for his inappropriate behavior by posting a corresponding post on social networks. However, this did not help Francis escape punishment. The American was not disqualified, but a double fine was imposed: 60 thousand dollars for insults, 60 thousand for aggravated behavior. The final amount of the penalty ($120 thousand) is one of the largest in the history of sports.

Hit where it hurts most – your wallet

Converted to rubles, Tiafoe’s fine amounts to almost 12 million. Tennis players still paid so much for hooliganism. Although the ATP used to write out more crazy numbers.

So, in 2009, at the US Open, the legendary Serena Williams insulted the judge, for which she later received a fine of 175 thousand dollars. True, the American did not pay almost half of this amount, getting off with a “condition.”

And last year, Frenchman Hugo Gaston was fined $144,000, which exceeded the tennis player’s income for the entire season. Fortunately for Gaston, after an appeal the fine was reduced to 72 thousand.

Let’s see if Francis Tiafoe can challenge the ATP verdict, or he will still have to go down in history with the largest paid fine.