Serena Williams fined $10,000 for Wimbledon court damage, as the championships comfortably eclipse last year's fine total

Seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams was fined $10,000 for damaging one of the All England Club's courts with her racquet on Tuesday. The 37-year-old American was sanctioned for an incident which took place during a practice session before the tournament got underway.

"The code given is for unsportsmanlike behavior. The reason is court damage," a spokeswoman told an international media publication.

Williams was seen in action twice later on Tuesday where she faced fellow American Alison Riske for a place in the semi-finals. The 23-time Grand Slam champion beat Riske 6-4 4-6 6-3 to set up a last-four meeting with Britain's Johanna Konta or Czech Barbora Strycova. Williams is currently chasing her eighth Wimbledon title and her first Grand Slam title since January 2017.

"It was really satisfying," the 37-year-old said. "I wouldn't have won that match a couple of weeks ago. I'm glad I was able to come through. She was honestly playing amazing, she beat so many great players. I was really pumped, it was for a place in the semis at Wimbledon and that doesn't happen every day. It's a long, arduous road."

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Post her quarter-final win she returned to the Centre Court to partner Britain's Andy Murray in the mixed doubles. The doubles pair is to play Raquel Atawo and Fabrice Martin in their second round of the tournament. The pair in their previous match against Alexa Guarachi and Andreas Mies; Murray and Williams played with confidence and had great coordination on court. Their rotation was also quick and seamless.

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Australia's Bernard Tomic was also fined his full Wimbledon prize money of $58,500 earlier last week for not meeting the "required professional standard" during his first-round defeat by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He was accused of lack of effort.  

Including Tomic, fifteen players were fined a total of $106,400 (£84,950) throughout the first six days of this year’s Wimbledon, already overtaking last year’s total of $68,000 (£54,300) enforced over the full two weeks. 

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(With PTI inputs)