Kyrgios to begin probationary period with ban looming over him
Tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios to begin probationary period after deciding not to appeal ATP punishment for committing EIGHT offences in one match… as governing body insist he sees a behavioural management specialist
- Nick Kyrgios’ six-month probationary period will start on Monday
- The tennis star has opted not to appeal recent punishment laid down by the ATP
- Kyrgios faces a 16-week ban from ATP tournaments and a fine of £20,000
- His offences include verbally abusing an umpire and spitting at an official
Nick Kyrgios’ six-month probationary period will start on Monday after the Australian opted not to appeal the punishment handed down by the ATP last week.
Kyrgios faces a 16-week ban from ATP tournaments and a fine of £20,000 ($25,000) if he violates certain conditions during the next six months.
Those include not receiving code violations during matches for verbal or physical abuse of officials or spectators, visible obscenities or an offence of unsportsmanlike conduct, such as spitting, towards officials or spectators.
Nick Kyrgios faces a 16-week ban and a fine of £20K if he violates certain conditions
Kyrgios must also see a specialist in behavioural management during the off-season and seek support from a mental coach during ATP tournaments.
The punishment was a result of a second-round match at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati in August when Kyrgios committed eight separate offences, including verbally abusing umpire Fergus Murphy and spitting in the direction of the official.
In a recent match Kyrgios verbally abused the umpire, and walked off court with two rackets
He smashed the rackets, then walked back out to play, still angrily ranting at officials
He called umpire Fergus Murphy the ‘worst f****** referee ever’ and spat at an official
He was fined an initial £90,000 but the ATP launched an investigation, which concluded there was a pattern of behaviour related to Kyrgios’ verbal abuse of officials and spectators.
The ATP confirmed Kyrgios has accepted the additional sanctions, which is no surprise given the timing.
The announcement came on the same day in which Kyrgios revealed he was pulling out of the current series of tournaments in Asia because of a collarbone problem.
He may not play another ATP event this season, in which case he would complete half his probationary period without competing in a match.
The six months will run out at the end of March 2020, and the sanction only applies during ATP events, so November’s Davis Cup finals and the Australian Open in January do not count.
Kyrgios responded to the sanction on Instagram, saying: ‘Guess I’m on my best behaviour for 6 months,’ adding the hashtag ‘detention’.
NICK KYRGIOS MELTDOWNS
BY JAMES DUTTON
Rogers Cup, 2015
No stranger to having his professionalism on a tennis court questioned, Kyrgios strayed well over the line when a fiery match with Stan Wawrinka got personal.
It may have been a ‘heat of the moment’ response to a ‘lippy’ opponent, but the Aussie was fooling no one after he was caught by an on-court microphone telling his opponent: ‘Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend. Sorry to tell you that mate.’
Kyrgios was referring to his Davis Cup team-mate Thanasi Kokkinakis, while Wawrinka was romantically linked with his now girlfriend Donna Vekic. It was a line more likely to promote a heavyweight boxing match than grace a tennis court, and Wawrinka was deeply unimpressed by the apparent sledging.
‘I just hope the ATP takes big measures against him. He’s young but that’s no excuse… every match, he behaves very badly’, he said.
‘The problem is he doesn’t just behave badly towards himself, he behaves badly towards the people around, the other players, the ball kids, the umpires. I really hope the ATP will take major action against him this time.’
He was fined £10,000 and handed a 28-day suspended sentence.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7Paa8pcq4SI%3Ffeature%3Doembed
Australian Open, 2016
He could have let it go to voicemail. He could have switched it off. He could have left it in the locker room.
For once Kyrgios escaped punishment, but eyebrows were still raised after this indiscretion.
Before a mixed doubles match in Melbourne three years ago he answered a phone call as he sat down with partner Ajla Tomljanovic.
Officials investigated the incident, which had left Tomljanovic thoroughly bemused, but he avoided sanction because it was pre-match.
‘Some of my friends called me,’ Kyrgios said. When asked if it was something important, he replied: ‘Kind of, not really’.
Kyrgios took a call from a friend before a mixed doubles match in Melbourne in 2016
Shanghai, 2016
Accusations of tanking have followed Kyrgios throughout his career. He was booed at Wimbledon in 2015 for a lack of effort in returning serves from Richard Gasquet.
But when he did not return shots and served without effort at the Shanghai Masters in 2016 it earned him a three-month ban and a £20,500 fine.
At one point he patted a serve over the net and at another he was walking off court before his opponent, Mischa Zverev, had returned the ball.
When told to act professionally by umpire Ali Nili after swearing, he responded: ‘Can you call time so I can finish this match and go home?’
He made no apologies for his conduct after the match, even taking aim at the fans.
‘I don’t owe them [the fans] anything. It’s my choice. If you don’t like it, I didn’t ask you to come watch. Just leave. You want to buy a ticket? Come watch me.You know I’m unpredictable. It’s your choice. I don’t owe you anything. Doesn’t affect how I sleep at night.’
Against Mischa Zverev in Shanghai in 2016 Kyrgios patted a tame serve over the net
He then walked off court before Zverev had even returned the serve to win the point
Queen’s, 2018
Kyrgios believed he was sharing a private moment with his players’ box when he mimicked a crude sex act with a water bottle during a break in games.
Instead the moment was beamed into living rooms across the world as it was caught on live television during a defeat by Marin Cilic at Queen’s last year.
Kyrgios held his drink bottle towards his groin and appeared to pretend to masturbate.
After playing around with his drink bottle he then finished off by spraying water onto the ground and taking a sip before sharing a cheeky grin. He was fined £13,000.
Earlier in the week he shouted out ‘f***’ during his match against Kyle Edmund, forcing BBC commentary to apologise for the foul language.
His response when it was raised afterwards? ‘Fine. I don’t care’.
Kyrgios was caught on TV mimicking a sex act with a water bottle at Queen’s last year
Wimbledon, 2018
Somehow Kyrgios made it to the age of 23, a world ranking of 18 and over £5m earned in prize money without knowing the foot-fault rule.
In an embarrassing, yet hilarious, moment at Wimbledon last year umpire James Keothavong had to get down from his chair and teach the Aussie the rules of the game.
He was shown the centre mark foot fault rule by the British official during a break between sets in his second-round match.
Keothavong stood with his feet behind the doubles tramline near his chair to explain.
He drew an imaginary extension of the centre mark and put his back foot the other side of the court, which is against the rules.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) rules state: ‘The server shall not touch the imaginary extension of the centre mark with either foot.’
At last year’s Wimbledon Kyrgios had to be taught the foot-fault rule on serves
Umpire James Keothavong got down from his chair to teach the Aussie player the rules
Italian Open, 2019
Even by Kyrgios’ standards this meltdown on one of the outside courts against Casper Ruud was incredible.
The Aussie allowed himself to get riled by spectators and became involved in an exchange with officials after being made to forfeit a game to go 2-1 down in the decider.
Having angrily hurled his racket to the floor he threw the fold-up chair onto the playing surface and then went into an expletive-filled rant, shouting at the chair: ‘I am giving 100 per cent to deal with f****** idiots like him, I’m done. I’m f****** done. I’m f****** done with it. I don’t give a f***.’
He then put his bag over his shoulder and walked off court of his own accord, but was officially defaulted from the match.
Kyrgios smashed his racket into the ground before kicking something along the floor
Kyrgios picked up a seat from courtside and hurled that into the centre of the court
Wimbledon, 2019
Kyrgios’ Centre Court meeting with Rafael Nadal was always going to be explosive viewing and so it proved. After all, he had been partying into the early hours Wimbledon pub The Dog and Fox.
Not only was the Aussie underarm serving the world No 2 but he smashed a forehand directly at Nadal and later claimed he wanted the ball to strike him.
Kyrgios then turned his anger on the chair umpire for seemingly operating with a double standard when it came to the shot clock for the two players.
‘Wow, you’ve got so much power up there,’ Kyrgios said.
‘Look at you. Look at you. You’re no one. You think you’re important. You have no idea what’s going on. You’re a disgrace.’
After the match, Kyrgios went on to add: ‘I got angry at the ref. He’s like, ‘No, I’ll tell him what I want to tell him.’ I was like, ‘Oh, a little bit of a power trip there.’ He obviously feels pretty important sitting up in the chair. He was just terrible. I thought the way he handled the match was just bad.’
Kyrgios had a row with umpire Damien Dumusois while he took on Nadal at SW19
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