German Gojowczyk handed hefty fine for retiring in first round

German Gojowczyk handed hefty fine for retiring in first round
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By Reuters
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PARIS (Reuters) - German Peter Gojowczyk was fined 25,000 euros (£21,990) on Thursday after he retired from his French Open first-round match against Britain's Cameron Norrie.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) introduced new measures to stop players turning up injured or ill, only to retire in the first round and yet still pick up a lucrative first-round loser's cheque -- 40,000 euros at Roland Garros.

Gojowczyk, who played the final in Geneva last weekend and practised at Roland Garros on Sunday, retired from his match in Paris citing hip pain as he was trailing 6-1 2-0.

Another German, Mischa Zverev, was handed a similar fine at the Australian Open earlier this year.

Top seed Rafa Nadal, the 10-times French Open champion, said: "I think it's a good rule, because there is a lot of money on the slams. For a lot of players, (the fact) that they are in... a Grand Slam, and have a physical problem in that week, just playing the tournament helps a lot to save the year."

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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