Wimbledon doubles champion handed £9,200 fine for alleged verbal abuse
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 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.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
33 minutes ago
- BBC News
Two women raped by Met policeman from Stevenage, trial told
A man raped two women when he was a Metropolitan Police officer, a prosecutor told a jury. Jake Cummings, who has also been a special constable in Dorset, "does not take no for an answer", barrister James Thacker KC said at a trial at St Albans Crown told jurors that Cummings, now 26, who lived in Lytton Way, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, had already been convicted of controlling and coercive behaviour and who was arrested at his mother's home in Weymouth, Dorset, denied rape. Mr Thacker gave details of allegations made by the two women when opening the case on had been in relationships with each woman and had raped one in 2021 and the other in 2024, he added that Cummings had told police investigating the women's allegations that sex was two women lived in different parts of Britain and did not know each other, Mr Thacker told the said the behaviour and stalking offences Cummings had either been found guilty of or admitted related to the two women. Mr Thacker said Cummings raped one of the women in 2021 when they were still in a said Cummings wanted sex but the woman did not."However she was extremely concerned about him getting angry," Mr Thacker told jurors."She therefore submitted to having sexual intercourse with him."He said Cummings had raped the woman and added: "She was forced in all the circumstances to have sexual intercourse with him." Mr Thacker said Cummings had raped the second woman after they met following the end of their relationship."He asked her for sex," said Mr Thacker."She said no."Mr Thacker added: "He does not take no for an answer."He said Cummings was a "serving police officer" when the women were had been a special constable in Dorset in 2018 until he joined the Metropolitan Police in November 2019, Mr Thacker told the jury. Judge Bilal Siddique told jurors that the two women could not be identified as rape victims in trial continues. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
43 minutes ago
- BBC News
Lewes Prison sees rise in assaults on staff, report finds
Assaults on prison staff by prisoners at Lewes Prison have risen despite better living conditions, a report has involving prisoners attacking staff rose by 15% in the space of a year to 79 assaults over 12 months, with prisoner self-harm also increasing by 5% to 651 cases during the same the report from the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) also found that prisoner-on-prisoner violence fell by 16% to under 200 incidents between February 2024 and January 2025.A Prison Service spokesperson welcomed the progress highlighted in the report but said it is "ramping up efforts to tackle the root causes of violence". An IMB spokesperson said issues persisted despite better living conditions at the prison, with prisoners spending more time out of their cells and more opportunities for education and Fairclough, IMB Lewes vice-chairman, said there was "clear evidence that the prison has become a better place".He added: "However, the board is still concerned about high levels of violence and rates of prisoner self-harm, though we welcome some recent signs of improvement."Prison officers also felt required to use force against prisoners in 25% more incidents, amounting to 721 cases, the report found. 'Significant challenges' The IMB added it was concerned about the high proportion of cases involving force against younger prisoners and prisoners from minority ethnic backgrounds.A third of incidents involving force were against prisoners from a Caribbean, African or other black background but there was no evidence of bias or prejudice, the report with heating and hot water supply meant that the prison had at times been "unacceptably hot or cold" for prisoners and staff alike, the report issues in the report included a lack of CCTV in areas of the prison and "significant challenges" with illicit worth more than £1.5m including drugs and mobile phones were intercepted at the prison, with 35% more weapons and nearly double the amount of "illicitly brewed alcohol" also with mental health were also raised, with the prison having no psychiatrist for most of summer 2024, the report Prison Service added: "We are pleased the IMB has recognised the progress being made at HMP Lewes."But we know more needs to be done and are ramping up efforts to tackle the root causes of violence including through landmark sentencing reforms to reduce pressure on our prisons."A report in May 2024 from HM Inspectorate of Prisons said HMP Lewes was "trapped" in a cycle of rising violence, self-harm and drug report stated that only a third of prisoners were engaged in education or employment and while the institution had "clear plans to improve", many inmates spent just two hours a day out of their cells or as little as 90 minutes working.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Otley Run bar crawl venue wants to admit more customers
Councillors have been urged to reject an application from a Leeds bar which would allow it to admit more people taking part in one of the country's biggest pub owners of Taylor's Sports Bar & Grill want to replace their existing licence with one that would allow them to serve alcohol on the first floor, meaning they could serve more people including those participating in the Otley Run pub application has received objections from residents, councillors and West Yorkshire Police, while rugby league club Leeds Rhinos are among those to have offered their City Council's licensing sub-committee will decide on the plans later. The 19-stop pub crawl has been a part of student life in Leeds for decades but now sees about 4,000 people take part every it continues to grow in popularity, some people feel it is out of control and have called for steps to limit its Yorkshire Police claimed staff at Taylor's directed people who were "in an intoxicated state" to cross the "busy" road to visit the a letter to the licensing committee, a police spokesperson said "unmanageable crowds" had gathered outside the bar, "causing a nuisance to local residents and their families, contributing to making the central area of Headingley feel unsafe and unusable".The council's Environmental Health Services team said the venue had not provided enough information about how they intended to prevent public has previously attracted complaints about noise and crowds, according to a council bar opened in 2023, replacing a café, and has been using temporary event notices, known as TENs, to use the upstairs to several letters submitted in support of the application, the upstairs area - known as the Local Heroes Lounge - had been used as a space for various a letter of support, a spokesperson for Headingley-based Leeds Rhinos said the bar was used by players from its rugby league and netball teams and had become "an ideal [place] to socialise and engage with other sports fans who live locally". Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
