Just last week, Corentin Moutet was fined $40,000 for what he said in his post-match interview at Queen’s.
Having beaten Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard over two days, he was naturally exasperated and let slip a swear word when delivering his on-court post-match interview.
Stunned by his exclamation, the interviewer reminded him of his obligations not to swear, to which he replied by uttering it six more times before the interview was concluded.
Because of this, the Frenchman was fined $40,000 (£30,325), nearly all of the £32,800 he had earned for reaching the second round in London.
Danielle Collins, off the back of this, has called for a new punishment that tennis could implement to truly enact change.
Danielle Collins recommends a new tennis punishment
Chatting with Nick Monroe and Brad Gilbert on the Big T podcast, she was asked how she might crack down on such transgressions akin to Moutet’s outburst.
“I have a couple of thoughts,” she began, before adding: “You know, the profanity, it doesn’t bother me as much, especially when it’s not done in a malicious way.
If you were in charge of tennis, what is the first rule you would change?
“The other thing, too, okay, yeah, he ended up saying the F word four times. Okay, but it wasn’t done in a malicious way, in my opinion. But I guess I get there’s kids in the crowd, whatnot.
“My only thing is, look, how did they come up with these numbers, $40,000?
“My other thing, too, is, I don’t know if this is the case for Moutet, and I’m just talking about this generally. I think if you are a repeat offender, where you keep getting fined money for, whether it’s throwing your racket, cussing, any of the things you could potentially get fined for, I strongly believe that we should make these players do community service.
“Some of that community service could be something like going and picking up trash on the side of the highway, okay? Picking up trash, serving the community well, potentially scanning badges at Wimbledon. It could be great for the community, it could also be a great way to teach people that the sport is bigger than just yourself, and it’s about the community.”
Has Corentin Moutet ever been fined before?
For all the fanfare surrounding this, with Moutet having even been defended by a fellow player, this is far from his first offence.
In fact, the 27-year-old has a long history of being handed fines, warnings and even disqualifications in some instances.
Back in 2022, Moutet was disqualified from the Adelaide International after swearing at the chair umpire following a decision that went against him.
Then, later that year at the Open d’Orléans, he was fined €10,000 following a post-match scuffle with Adrian Andreev.
He has received warnings for unsportsmanlike conduct on occasion too.
However, none of these have resulted in as serious a fine as the one handed to him by Queen’s.
