F*** f*** f***: Tennis star Moutet fined £4k per F-bomb for Queen’s Club outburst on BBC
French tennis player Corentin Moutet has been fined 90 per cent of his prize money – or £4,322 per swear word – for saying “f***” seven times in a post-match interview at Queen’s Club.
Moutet turned the air blue during the BBC’s live coverage of the HSBC Championships when interviewed on court by Jenny Drummond after his first-round win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old first swore when describing his emotions in the decisive points, drawing laughter from the crowd and a warning, “no F-bombs, please”, from Drummond.
Smirking, Moutet then replied “f*** f*** f***”. After Drummond apologised to viewers for the language and asked him to “keep it clean” in his final answer, he again said “f*** f*** f***”.
The men’s ATP Tour said on Friday it had fined $40,000, which equates to £30,251, almost completely wiping out the £33,000 he had earned for reaching the second round at Queen’s.
The ATP said the fine was imposed for “unsportsmanlike conduct”, namely “the use of profane language during his post-match interview”. Moutet has said that he will appeal the fine.
Dropping shorts and fist fights: Moutet’s history of chaos
It is by no means the first controversy provoked by Moutet, who has a tattoo on the back of his neck that states “chaos makes the muse”.
Last month he received a warning after responding to losing a point in a match at the Hamburg Open pulling his shorts down.
His most notorious incident 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. The furious French Tennis Federation withdrew his funding and coaching support.
Earlier that year he had been disqualified for another foul-mouthed outburst at the Adelaide International. Moutet shouted “f***n you” towards the umpire after blowing a 40-0 advantage and losing a game which cost him the second set.