Serena Williams has been fined $10,000 by the All England Club for damaging the court with her racquet ahead of the Wimbledon tournament. Williams responded to the fine by simply saying, "I just threw my racquet. I got fined."
She also joked that she might have more strength than she thought.
"I have always been an Avenger in my heart. Maybe I'm super strong," Williams said.
It's not the first time a a player has been financially penalized, but many are surprised how hefty the fine is, especially because this happened during a practice.
Also in fines today, Serena Williams was fined $10,000 for damaging a championships court with her racquet during a pretournament practice.
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) July 8, 2019
Not unusual for #Wimbledon to dish out big fines like that for injuring its treasured lawns, but I've never heard of one pre-event before.
To put Williams' fine in context, Fabio Fognini was fined $3,000 for saying he wished a bomb would hit Wimbledon after he lost a match. Fans are questioning a system that fines so differently for damage than they do for a comment like Fognini's, while others argue the All England Club is charging Williams more for something that have to put money into.
Ah, very cool stuff.
— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) July 8, 2019
Serena Williams was fined $10,000 for "damaging" a #Wimbledon practice court before the the tournament started.
Fabio Fognini got fined only $3,000 for hoping the All England Club and everybody in got blown up.
Totally normal system. pic.twitter.com/fbAKR851Mp
Nick Kyrgios once took home a pair of fines, both for unsportsmanlike conduct, with the first one set at $3,000 and the second at $5,000.
Last week Bernard Tomic was fined his entire Wimbledon winnings of $58,000 for not adhering to the "required professional standard" in his loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
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