Anna Tatishvili's French Open first-round fine lifted upon appeal

Anna Tatishvili's French Open fine for not meeting professional standards of competition has been lifted upon appeal.

The 29-year-old fell 6-0, 6-1 to Maria Sakkari and had been fined $52,000, her entire first-round prize money. The sanction was for not meeting the 'First Round Performance Rule,' which was instituted in 2018 and requires players perform at a professional standard in the opening round.

She was the first player to be fined all her prize money since the rule came into effect, and also the first affected player to have completed the match—all previous fines had been against players who had retired in the opening round.

The appeal decision stated that based on "heightened point-by-point scrutiny," Tatishvili was "competing professionally from the first to the very last point."

In a statement, Tatishvili said she was "happy that the Grand Slam Board has reversed its sanctioning decision, that the question of my performance at the French Open has now been settled, and that it’s definitively confirmed that I played to the best of my ability."

The 29-year-old had not played on tour since 2017 because of injury, and entered the French Open in the final week of her protected ranking. She was declared physically fit to compete by tournament doctors.

She has since played two lower level events, winning seven games in two opening round defeats.

The Grand Slam performance rule was part of a change that also allows players to receive half their prize money if they withdraw before the event. It is intended to stop players from competing even when not fit in order to receive the large amount of prize money of offer—an increasing problem in recent years.

Tatishvili is currently No. 726 and has reached No.50 in the rankings.