David Nalbandian has been fined the maximum penalty of 10,000 euros (£6,400) for kicking an advertising hoarding into a line judge's leg at Queen's yesterday, the ATP have confirmed.
Nalbandian was disqualified from the final of the AEGON Championships at Queen's Club yesterday when he lashed out at the hoarding which subsequently struck Andrew McDougall.
The Argentinian's £36,500 prize money was taken off him and the ATP revealed today that after the match they issued him with the maximum fine of 10,000 euros for unsportsmanlike conduct.
An ATP spokeswoman said: "Nalbandian automatically forfeited his prize money and ranking points due to his conduct default.
"A maximum 10,000 euro (£8,000) fine also was issued onsite by the ATP Supervisor for unsportsmanlike conduct."
Tennis chiefs had ruled out banning Nalbandian from next year’s AEGON Championships despite him being thrown out.
Tournament organiser Chris Kermode saw the showpiece finale of a championships disfigured by rain and early defeats for the top seeds, ruined by the Argentine’s loss of control. Boos and whistles greeted the handing over of the trophy to Marin Cilic who lost the first set 7-6 and was 4-3 up in the second when the incident occurred.
Kermode tried to play down Nalbandian’s attempt to paint himself as the victim of ATP rules — put in place by the organisation that runs the men’s game.
The official said: “To be honest, I haven’t really thought about next year, but there was no way he intended to do that. It would be foolish to say he’s not welcome back to this tournament.”
After apologising to 54‑year-old linesman Andrew McDougall, Nalbandian last night used Twitter to issue the kind of statement he should have delivered on court at Queen’s Club.
Nalbandian tweeted: “I am ashamed and sorry for the kick that unintentionally hurt the line umpire.
“I never intended to hit him, it was an unfortunate reaction in which I wanted to let off steam after losing a point. I had the opportunity to personally apologise to the line umpire for this regrettable act that I am fully responsible for.”
Immediately after the match he had said: “It’s a tough moment to end a final like that but sometimes we feel so much pressure from the ATP playing so many tournaments.”
