AS Britain's second best tennis player, Greg Rusedski should be a role model for the sport.

In the early evening of Wednesday, in front of a live TV audience of impressionable young children, Rusedski let loose of string of obscenities which would not normally have been allowed before the 9pm watershed.

To his credit, Rusedski was contrite. As soon as possible, in post-match interviews, he was apologetic.

Stars in other sports, courting the same controversy, may not have summoned the courage to say sorry in person.

But that does not excuse his behaviour on court.

Had a spectator on Centre Court uttered such bad language, they would be been escorted off the premises, possibly facing criminal charges.

Loutish behaviour by fans is not tolerated. Equally, loutish behaviour by professional sportsmen and women should not be tolerated.

For taking swift disciplinary action against Rusedski, the Wimbledon authorities are to the applauded.

However, a fine of £1,500 to a man who has made an estimated £8m out of the game of tennis amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist.

And, more importantly, it has given the impression that Rusedski's behaviour is acceptable.

Setting the standard

THE popular perception of Sir Denis Thatcher was that of a henpecked husband and a bumbling eccentric, with a love of gin and tonic and golf.

The caricature was unfair. He achieved success and a substantial fortune in his own right, long before he became known as Margaret Thatcher's husband.

In private he was fiercely intelligent, quick-witted and every bit as opinionated as his wife.

But in public he acknowledged the restraints placed on him as consort of the Prime Minister.

He rarely spoke to the media and never gave interviews which might embarrass his wife or the office of Prime Minister.

In the modern age of mass media scrutiny of those in public life, he set the standards by which all future consorts of the Prime Minister would be judged.