Corentin Moutet has been fined almost all of his prize money at Queen’s Club following his foul-mouthed post-match interview.
The controversial Frenchman said the ‘F-word’ seven times live on BBC Television after his first-round victory over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
Having initially sworn unintentionally while answering the first question, a grinning Moutet then responded by saying “f*** f*** f***” twice more before interviewer Jenny Drummond pulled the plug.
The ATP announced on Friday that Moutet has been fined a whopping $40,000 which equates to more than 90% of his fee.
The ATP said the fine was imposed for “unsportsmanlike conduct”, namely “the use of profane language during his post-match interview”.
Moutet has confirmed he will appeal against the fine, in accordance with ATP rules.
On the court, US player Brandon Nakashima caused a shock when he knocked out top seed and world number six Alex De Minaur.
The 24-year-old, ranked 32, pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career with a 7-5, 6-3 victory.
“Very happy with my performance, it definitely wasn’t easy,” he said. “I was under a lot of pressure but I’m happy with myself getting through the critical points and closing it out at the end.
“It’s never easy serving out a match, especially against a top player like Alex, so I was happy to win the last point.”
Defeat was doubly disappointing for Australian De Minaur, with his fiancee Katie Boulter watching from the stands at the Andy Murray Arena.
The 27-year-old had wanted to match British number two Boulter’s run to the semi-finals in last week’s WTA event, but fell one match short.
Nakashima’s semi-final opponent is Francisco Cerundolo, who survived being hit in the throat to deliver a knockout blow to Britain’s Arthur Fery.
There was to be no Fery-tale ending in west London after Argentinian seventh seed Cerundolo won a titanic struggle 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-4.
Early in the second set Fery blasted a ball at close range straight at the throat of Cerundolo, knocking the 27-year-old off his feet and off his stride.
From 3-1 down, the wild card from Wimbledon won seven games in a row to level the match and lead 2-0 in the third.
But Cerundolo recovered his composure as Fery ran out of steam to bring his breakthrough run to an end.
“Wow man, I got a shot here in my throat and I couldn’t breathe,” said Cerundolo. “But after one or two games it went away. I got lucky.”
