Alexander Zverev has been given an eight-week suspended ban for repeatedly hitting an umpire’s chair with his racket at the Mexican Open last month.
The world No3 was fined £31,000 and stripped of all prize money from the tournament in Acapulco, where the incident happened.
The ruling means that if the German is found guilty of another major offence – ranging from unsportsmanlike behaviour to verbal abuse - during the next 12 months then he will be banned for almost two months from the game. In addition, he would face a further £19,000 fine.
The 24-year-old repeatedly struck the umpire’s chair with his racket, coming close to hitting the official’s foot. He said in the aftermath that he had “privately apologised†and that he was “disappointed†in himself.
Meanwhile, British trio Heather Watson, Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart edged closer to the main draw at Indian Wells after winning their opening qualifying matches.
Watson beat Spain’s Rebeka Masarova 7-5, 6-2, while Boulter edged out No6 seed Xinyu Wang 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 and Dart was a 6-1, 7-5 winner over Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove of the Netherlands.
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