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The defending Wimbledon men’s doubles champion has been handed the largest fine so far at this year’s championships after allegedly verbally abusing a member of staff.
Essex-born Henry Patten, 29, is appealing against the $12,500 (£9,200) penalty that was dished out on 29 June owing to an incident at an off-site training ground.
Wimbledon has handed out fines totalling $50,000 to 12 players so far this year, more than double the $20,000 dished out during the same period at last year’s championships. The fines for both years include the qualifying period and the first week of Wimbledon.
This year’s second highest fine went to the French player Adrian Mannarino, who displayed unsportsmanlike conduct during his second round win over Valentin Royer. Other players this year were fined for audible obscenities, abuse of rackets and equipment, and also unsportsmanlike conduct.
Over the years, some of the sport’s biggest stars including Serena Williams and Nick Kyrgios have been fined for rocking the genteel atmosphere of the tournament.
Williams was fined $10,000 (£7,345) in 2016 for smashing her racket into the grass court five times in her match against Christina McHale. Kyrgios, known for his volatile behaviour on the tennis circuit, told a podcast last week that he has been fined more than $800,000 (£587,650) in his career.
Patten said he was disappointed that he was having to address the fines issue rather than concentrating on his Wimbledon run. Patten and his teammate, Harri Heliövaara of Finland, who won the Australian Open men’s doubles title this year as well, are through to Wimbledon’s quarter-finals after their opponents, France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Australia’s Jordan Thompson, had to withdraw on Monday.
In a statement, Patten, the world No 3 in doubles, said he had spoken to the tournament referee and tournament director regarding last Sunday’s incident.
“On 2 July, I received a letter informing me that I had been fined and on the same day I responded appealing [against] the decision due to inaccuracies and procedural failures in the process,” he said.
“Despite this decision being under appeal, I am disappointed that Wimbledon sought it appropriate to disclose this fine to the media without indicating my appeal, which creates an unfair and inaccurate perception of the incident.
“At this stage I will merely say that I do not believe that there has been a full or proper investigation, nor has Wimbledon acted reasonably or fairly with due process.”
Wimbledon has been asked for comment.
