Corentin Moutet\u2019s entirely relatable reaction to facing a tennis ball coming at him at 142 mph could lead to a significant fine.<\/p>\n
Moutet, the crafty, idiosyncratic and combustible Frenchman, swore seven times in less than a minute during a post-match interview at Queen\u2019s, the prestigious grass-court event in west London.<\/p>\n
Moutet, 27, who had just defeated huge-serving compatriot Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(5) when BBC interviewer Jenny Drummond asked him about facing a 142 mph second serve from Mpetshi Perricard, 22.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s so frustrating you know. When I had match point, I was on the second serve. OK, you aim in the middle, whatever you do, just put the ball in the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then he hits me 142 and I was like, \u2018f\u2013\u2013\u2013. I will have to serve \u2026\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
After pausing and appearing to realize what he had done as the crowd tittered, Drummond said \u201cno f-bombs please,\u201d before handing Moutet the mic again.<\/p>\n
\u201cF\u2013\u2013\u2013 f\u2013\u2013\u2013 f\u2013\u2013\u2013,\u201d Moutet said, before Drummond pulled the mic away and said \u201cno, no!\u201d before apologizing to the watching crowd for Moutet\u2019s language.<\/p>\n
She then asked him a second question about winning the match, but Moutet could only respond with three more of the same curse word, which led to the interview being cut. Presenter Clare Balding then apologized to television viewers from the studio.<\/p>\n
When a much shorter version of the already sub-50-second interview went up on the tournament\u2019s Instagram, Moutet saw fit to leave a comment:\u00a0\u201cI was just joking I hope you guys didn\u2019t get offended. Thanks for the love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moutet\u2019s behavior is likely to lead to a fine. According to the ATP Rulebook, \u201ca player shall not use an audible obscenity while on-site. Audible obscenity is defined as the use of words commonly known and understood to be profane and uttered clearly and loudly enough to be heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cViolation of this section shall subject a player to a fine up to $5,000 for each violation \u2026 In circumstances that are flagrant and particularly injurious to the success of a tournament, or are singularly egregious, a single violation of this section shall also constitute the player Major Offense of Aggravated Behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aggravated behavior carries a fine of up to $100,000, or a player\u2019s total prize money from a tournament, if it exceeds that figure. It also comes with a minimum suspension of 21 days. Even if Moutet\u2019s swearing is not deemed to be aggravated behavior, a possible maximum fine of $35,000 for less than a minute\u2019s speaking is a tidy sum, and the way that the ATP Tour views Moutet\u2019s actions in terms of disrespecting the tournament or fans will be key to the outcome.<\/p>\n
Audible obscenity is one of the more common code violations on both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s tours, but invoking it for an interview \u2014 in which players most often forget that they should not swear, but then self-correct \u2014 is vanishingly rare.<\/p>\n
He will next play Wednesday, against Spain\u2019s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Corentin Moutet\u2019s entirely relatable reaction to facing a tennis ball coming at him at 142 mph could lead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-709748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}