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Adolfo Daniel Vallejo has been fined nearly £50,000 for saying a woman should not have umpired his French Open match.
Vallejo accused Brazilian official Ana Carvalho of not being strong enough to handle the crowd in her five-set loss to French teenager Moise Quam last week.
Tournament organizers responded with a strongly worded statement, condemning the comments as “unacceptable” and saying Paraguay would face “significant sanctions”.
This has now been confirmed as a US$65,000 fine, the largest in Grand Slam history, for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Vallejo was disappointed to allow 17-year-old Koume, whose success has been one of the stories of the tournament, to take the points during their second-round match.
He said: “A man has to umpire a match like this, it’s very difficult for a woman to do that. It has to be refereed by a man, because it’s a very demanding crowd and you need a lot of strength to go against the crowd.”
Vallejo later apologized for the comments but he paid a heavy price, with the fine representing more than 40 percent of his award money.
Vallejo lost to French teenager Moise Koum in the second round last week
“This is clearly unacceptable. Such comments have no place here,” tournament director Amelie Mauresmo told reporters on Monday.
According to the Grand Slam rule book, players can be fined up to US$100,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct, which is defined as “any misconduct by a player that is clearly offensive or detrimental to the game”.
“Furthermore, unsportsmanlike conduct shall include, but not be limited to, giving, making, issuing, endorsing or authorizing, having, or designed to make, any public statement that has an adverse or detrimental effect on the best interests of the tournament and/or its obligations.”
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