Remember the Pennsylvania man who was convicted of disorderly conduct and fined $100 for making the “finger gun” gesture at a neighbor? He got off light.
Yesterday at the US Open tennis championship in New York, men’s doubles competitor Mike Bryan pointed his racket like a gun at a line judge who had just been overruled by a replay.
Mike Bryan (🎥@Eurosport_RU ) pic.twitter.com/vPwOiZfVqf
— doublefault28 (@doublefault28) September 1, 2019
Here’s the AP’s account of what happened . . .
Mike Bryan has been fined $10,000 at the U.S. Open for pointing his racket as if it were a gun during a doubles match.
Bryan, whose twin brother is his partner, was called for a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct in the last game of the second set after making the gesture.
After a lob by their opponents was ruled in, the Bryans challenged the call. A replay review showed that the ball landed out. That’s when Bryan pointed toward the chair umpire and line judge with a finger, then placed the head of his racket on his shoulder and pretended to “aim” the handle.
It’s the highest fine given to a man so far at this year’s U.S. Open.
U.S. Tennis Association spokesman Brendan McIntyre said: “The gesture warranted that amount.”
The Bryans’ match Saturday night was played hours after a man in Texas shot seven people to death and injured 22 others.
That was the 25th mass killing in the U.S. so far this year, matching the number in all of 2018, according to The AP/USATODAY/Northeastern University mass murder database. The database tracks homicides where four or more people are killed, not including the offender.