WATSON’S STUPID SWEAR ROW

HEATHER WATSON branded a line judge “pathetic” and a “snitch” after she was deducted a point for swearing as she lost in the women’s doubles quarter-finals.

A line judge reported the British No.2 to umpire Kader Nouni for an audible obscenity during the third set. Because the Channel Islander had already been warned for hitting a ball away, she and German partner Tatjana Maria lost the point at 40-30 and the game at 2-2.

But Watson (right) said: “I just said ‘stupid’ really loud and then he has gone up and told the referee that I said f ****** stupid. And I asked everybody behind me out loud, ‘What did you hear me say?’ And everybody said ‘Stupid’.

“It’s really pathetic. You have got people in all different languages swearing all the time. Yes, it was on game point. I said stupid out loud.

“Nobody heard anything else. It’s just unfair. You’re not telling people off when they are swearing in Czech or Spanish or whatever. I hope there is not a fine. But probably.

“It’s like a snitch running to the front of the class saying, ‘I heard her say this!’ It is so stupid.”

Watson and Maria eventually lost 3-6 7-6 6-4 to Czech pair Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.