Nicole Vaidisova [ Images ] became the first woman to be fined at this year's Australian Open [ Images ] on Friday, joining 18 men penalised for bad behaviour at the season's first Grand Slam.

The Czech received a $2,000 penalty from the International Tennis Federation for failing to appear at a news conference after her 6-2, 6-1 first round loss to Severine Bremond of France [ Images ].

The former world number seven has slipped down the rankings after a poor 2008 and is now outside the top 50.

Russia's [ Images ] Dmitry Tursunov [ Images ] has copped the heftiest dent to his wallet in the first five days, being fined $500 for racket abuse and another $2,500 for verbal abuse.

Both fines stemmed from the 29th seed's first round loss to Italian qualifier Flavio Cipolla.

Australia's [ Images ] Lleyton Hewitt [ Images ] received the next highest penalty after he received a $1,500 fine for verbal abuse in his first round defeat by Chile's Fernando Gonzalez [ Images ].

The most prolific offender, however, has been American Ryan Sweeting, who lost in the final round of qualifying to Algeria's Lamine Ouahab. He received three separate fines totalling $1,000 for racket and verbal abuse.

The ITF has fined players a total of $12,250 so far, with the money being channelled back into its grand slam development fund.