Bizarre Act Proves Costly as French Tennis Player Slapped With Massive $144,000 Fine for His On-Court Antics at Madrid Open 2023

Fair play and sportsmanship go hand in hand and sometimes players take a slip and end up committing a blunder. Something similar happened with the French tennis player Hugo Gaston, who tried to change the outcome of a point during a match at the Madrid Open. The controversial incident was captured on camera as he was facing Madrid Open finalist Borna Coric in the first round of the tournament.

The video surfaced on the internet recently, and the French player is not going unscathed. ATP has reprimanded him for his actions with a hefty fine, which will make Gaston surely regret his actions.

Hugo Gaston gets a hefty fine after disrupting a match against Borna Coric

The zeal and enthusiasm to grow in the ATP realm is one of the driving forces for tennis players to do their best on the court. However, in an attempt to do that, sometimes players get involved in unfair play.

French tennis player Hugo Gaston made the same mistake. Instead of focusing on turning the game in his favor with his skills and strategy, he indulged in a contentious moment of unfair play. During his first-round match against Borna Coric at the Madrid Open, he threw a ball from his pocket while the rally was going on.

As captured by the camera, he pretended as if it fell on the ground, interrupting the play. The aim was to replay the point which evidently was in favor of the Croatian tennis player. However, Coric, who proved his worth by reaching the semifinals of the Madrid Open, didn’t seem to be bothered by the Frenchman’s antics.

Now, the ATP has fined the French player a whopping $144 thousand fine, as reported by L’Equipe. Unfortunately, this is more than his earnings this year.

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The hefty fine is a reminder of the fact that tennis is not a game that is going to tolerate unfair play. Apart from the hefty fine, tennis has maintained these strict criteria for umpires too.

Tennis umpire faces a lifetime ban for match manipulation

Fabian Carrero, a Dominican Republic tennis coach, faced serious repercussions from the International Tennis Integrity Agency. He manipulated the scores during matches multiple times. The umpire breached the regulation 16 times across eight different matches from November 2019 to December 2019. Now, the umpire faces a lifetime ban from the sport.

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Be it doping or unfair play, tennis has made sure to keep the integrity of the sport intact by implementing strict punishments.