Corentin Moutet has been hit with a $40,000 fine after repeatedly swearing during a live post-match interview at the HSBC Championships at Queen’s Club in London.
The French tennis player unleashed the word seven times during BBC coverage on Tuesday, following his first-round victory over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
The 27-year-old was being interviewed on court by Jenny Drummond when he first swore while describing the decisive points of the match, drawing laughter from the crowd.
Drummond promptly warned him with “no F-bombs, please”, but Moutet simply smirked and replied “f*** f*** f***” in response.
After Drummond apologised to viewers and asked him to “keep it clean” in his final answer, Moutet repeated the phrase “f*** f*** f***” once more.
The men’s ATP Tour announced the $40,000 fine on Friday, which equates to £30,251 and almost entirely wipes out the £33,000 he earned for reaching the second round at Queen’s.
That works out to roughly £4,322 per swear word, representing 90 per cent of his total prize money from the tournament.
The ATP stated the fine was imposed for “unsportsmanlike conduct”, specifically “the use of profane language during his post-match interview”, and Moutet has said he will appeal the decision.
The incident is far from the first controversy involving Moutet, who has a tattoo on the back of his neck that reads “chaos makes the muse”.
Last month he received a warning at the Hamburg Open after pulling his shorts down in response to losing a point during a match.
His most notorious moment came in 2022, when he became involved in a fist fight at the net with Adrian Andreev following a match at a second-tier tournament, after which the French Tennis Federation withdrew his funding and coaching support.
Earlier that same year, Moutet was disqualified for a foul-mouthed outburst at the Adelaide International after shouting “f***n you” towards the umpire, having blown a 40-0 advantage to lose a game that cost him the second set.