Sergiy Stakhovsky fined for photo of ball mark at French Open

Sergiy Stakhovsky gained widespread attention for taking this picture and tweeting it.

Michel Spingler/AP

The player who used his phone to snap a photo of a ball mark during a French Open match has been fined $2,000 (about 1,500 euros).

Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine was cited for unsportsmanlike conduct for setting aside his racket and taking a picture of the spot in the red clay where a shot landed near a line in his 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 loss to seventh-seeded Richard Gasquet at Roland Garros.

The penalty was listed Thursday among other fines of players at the Grand Slam tournament. The match was Monday.

Stakhovsky said he spoke to a tennis official in the hope of avoiding losing some of his prize money. But he wound up getting docked about 7 percent of the roughly $27,000 (21,000 euros) he earned as a first-round loser.