There has been a decline in the number of player fines at Wimbledon in 2023 compared with the same period at last year’s tournament, according to the latest figures from the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
While the first week of the this year’s championship saw obscenities uttered and the abuse of rackets and equipment, the offences only reached a third of the fines from bad behaviour that punctuated the tournament in the same period in 2022.
In the first week there were five fines from male singles players totalling $15,000 (£11,500), including offences of audible obscenity and abuse of rackets and equipment, as of Monday, according to the AELTC.
For the same period last year, players committed 16 offences, totalling $66,500. Among them, unsportsmanlike conduct was the most frequent offence, followed by audible obscenity and abuse of rackets and equipment.
While attenders at this year’s event said they saw no difference in players’ behaviour, others noted the majority of players were abiding by the rules, which some argued had left the tournament with more “sterile” personalities when compared to those of the past.
“I’m nearly here every year, I think there’s no difference, I think it’s the same,” said Nicholas Cheung, who lives in London and has been to Wimbledon more than a dozen times.
“It’s just part of the game, it just makes the game more interesting,” he added awaiting entry to watch Chris Eubanks take on Stefanos Tsitsipas. “As long as there’s no big interference it’s just entertainment.”
Wimbledon has so far placed itself at odds with studies showing that the abuse of sporting officials is getting worse. Last year, Nick Kyrgios – absent this year due to injury – received fines after calling one female umpire the “worst I have ever seen”. He also spat in the direction of a fan, who he said constantly “disrespected” him, during a first-round match.
Rajesh Rai, who was visiting from Tunbridge Wells with his 16-year-old daughter, said the players were role models, and their behaviour on the court would affect the players that followed.
“Tennis is more of a gentleman’s game actually, it’s not a football game, you don’t see all those behaviours here,” said Rai after watching Mirra Andreeva’s fourth-round loss. The 16-year-old received a point penalty for throwing her racket and then refused to shake the umpire’s hand.
While it’s part of the game, he said, referring to her behaviour, it happened two or three times. “It’s a prestigious tournament, you want people to be following you,” said Rai. “I know we are human, but still.”
Wildcards Naiktha Bains and Maia Lumsden hailed becoming the first all-British pair to reach the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon women's doubles in 40 years as "surreal".
The rookie duo added Slovakians Viktoria Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova to their impressive list of scalps thanks to a stirring 6-3 6-7 (5) 6-3 win.
Jo Durie and Anne Hobbs were the previous British team to reach the last eight of the tournament in south-west London, doing so in 1983 before being beaten by top seeds Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver in the semi-finals.
"I guess it puts it in perspective, doesn't it? That's something we didn't know," said Leeds-born Bains. "It feels surreal to be honest. We wanted to back up last year's result of a first-round win. We wanted to go one better. But we're just taking it one match at a time and can't complain."
Bains and Lumsden, both 25, led by a set and a break on Court 18 but were forced to dig deep after being taken to a decider having narrowly failed to overturn a four-point deficit in the second-set tie-break.
Victory over Hruncakova and Mihalikova in two hours and 36 minutes sets up a last-eight clash with the winners of Tuesday's meeting between third seeds Storm Hunter and Elise Mertens and Czech duo Miriam Kolodziejova and Marketa Vondrousova.
The British pair's fine run at the All England Club is even more impressive given Lumsden feared her professional playing career may be ended by long Covid.
"During it, I didn't think I was going to get back playing sport," the Scot said of coronavirus, which she contracted in October 2020. That was like a year where I couldn't really do any exercise.
"I never really thought I would get back to playing professionally, so it's obviously unbelievable that I have got back to it now and I'm very grateful that I can." PA Media
Lynn Solomons, who has attended at least eight Wimbledon tournaments said players have become more “sterile” than personalities of the past, such as John McEnroe – who received a $10,000 fine for an outburst in the 1991 quarter-finals – and John Newcombe.
“I don’t mind a bit of temper, or something funny,” said Lynn, admitting she didn’t know players faced fines and missed Andreeva’s penalty to seek out some shade. She liked the idea of players showing “some personality – not being an absolute zombie which feels like some of them are”.
From the matches they’ve seen so far, her husband Tony agreed that it’s been a tamer Wimbledon. “Bad behaviour’s not great,” he said, “but it’s sometimes nice to see people express themselves.”
The AELTC declined to comment.
