A profanity-laced tirade at last summer's U.S. Open has earned tennis star Serena Williams a record $82,500 US fine and two years of probation.
Williams could see her fine rise to $175,000 US and be barred from the next U.S. Open if she has another major incident during the 2010 or 2011 seasons, a tennis official told The Associated Press.
"But if she does not have another offence in the next two years, the suspension is lifted," Grand Slam administrator Bill Babcock said in a telephone interview from London. His decision was to be formally released later Monday.
Babcock said the previous highest fine for a Grand Slam offence was about $48,000 to Jeff Tarango in the 1990s.
Williams, an 11-time Grand Slam singles champion, unleashed a string of abuse at a lineswoman near the end of her semifinal loss to Kim Clijsters of Belgium in mid-September.
With Williams serving at 15-30 and down 6-4, 6-5, the lineswoman cited Williams for a foot fault on a second serve to put her a point away from defeat, a call that drew gasps from the crowd.
After a few seconds, an irate Williams walked toward the lineswoman and pointed her racket.
"If I could, I would take this f--king ball and shove it down your f--king throat," Williams said.
That resulted in Williams's second violation of the match, which meant she automatically lost a point and Clijsters won the contest.
Williams was hit with a $10,000 US on-site fine, but the issue was sent to the Grand Slam committee administrator, who opened an investigation to determine whether Williams's behaviour should be considered a "major offence" and result in bigger penalties.
He concluded that Williams violated the "major offence" rule for "aggravated behaviour." The Grand Slam committee — with one representative from each of the sport's four major championships — approved his decision Saturday.
Babcock said Williams has been informed of the ruling. She has been in Barbados for an exhibition tournament, and her agent did not immediately reply to a request for comment Monday.
Babcock said a "major offence" under Grand Slam rules is "any conduct that is determined to be the 'major offence of aggravated behavior' or 'conduct detrimental to the game.'" There is no specific definition of what sort of actions constitute a "major offence."
