Sometimes you’re just in the right place at the right time. Thanks to Nick Kyrgios, last night was my night. I’m fortunate to be covering the Cincinnati Masters live at the event. I’ve been to a fair number of tournaments…and since I’m an enormous tennis geek, I still love it every time. I like listening to the linespeople discussing the likelihood of being overruled by the chair umpire (they do NOT like that). I like watching the ballkids shake out their nerves before they go on stadium court for the first time. I like starting conversations with the teens who volunteer at the event in exchange for catching some glimpses of live tennis “for free.” Because they’re always massive fans and they relish the chance to talk shop, even if it’s just for a two-minute elevator ride.
Cincinnati is a FANTASTIC event for the media, but even with poorly run events I can find something to love. Including the time I got food poisoning (I am not making that up) from the chili served in the media dining room. Because it’s tennis. And I love tennis. But in the wide world of tournament-related experiences, Wednesday night now ranks as my most memorable.
I’m not embarrassed to admit that when I saw it would be Fergus Murphy in the chair for the Nick Kyrgios vs. Karen Khachanov match, I got my popcorn ready. Nick has a well-publicized feud with Fergus, with whom he had well-documented run-ins at Queen’s Club and in Washington D.C. this summer (he also threw a water bottle in the direction of fellow chair umpire Gianluca Moscarella in D.C.). And as luck would have it, a friend of The Grandstand (Pete Ziebron of Tennis Acumen) tipped me off that I could obtain some on-court photo pit credentials for the match. And the tennis gods, who were feeling extra-generous, sent me another gift–as I unknowingly parked myself directly in front of the Kyrgios entourage.
The first set was uneventful enough…until Khachanov decided to choke his break lead. Suddenly, a somewhat listless Kyrgios was up a set–and then the circus came to town. Enter the dancing poodles. It started with a relatively innocuous time violation, which Kyrgios interpreted (not incorrectly, in my opinion) as Fergus starting the serve clock too early. It is, of course, up to the chair umpire when the next point “officially” starts. But Kyrgios is known for playing ridiculously fast, not usually for taking too long, so a time violation IS a bit unusual for the Australian. Kyrgios took it personally.
First, he called Murphy a potato. “Why do I have to put up with this potato in the chair?” he yelled to his box. Other news outlets would have you believe that this is some sort of xenophobic slur owing to the fact that Murphy is Irish. But NK has called our own Ricky Dimon a potato on Twitter…and Ricky is definitely American.
It’s exactly my point you potato
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) June 2, 2019
So I say normal insult, not slur. Anyway, from there, the Australian spent much of his time between points kvetching about Rafael Nadal. “Rafa doesn’t play this sport. He doesn’t. What sport does he play? It’s not tennis. Is it? Is it? I want to play what he’s playing.” He then pointed out to a bemused Murphy that if he engaged in even two of Nadal’s pre-serve…tics, he would already be out of time. This wouldn’t necessarily be notable, except:
- He wasn’t playing Nadal
- Nadal isn’t in Cincinnati…and indeed may not even be in the United States at all yet
From there, the match took on a surreal Salvador Dali-esque quality. In an effort to avoid the point penalty that would come with another infraction, NK said he had to use the bathroom. Murphy told him no, but he left the court anyway. With two rackets. Which he promptly smashed in the players tunnel. He calmly walked back on court, smashed rackets in hand, having not visited the men’s room. He pulled another racket from his bag and proceeded to tape up the handle ON COURT while he stood in position to return Khachanov’s serve.
Murphy issued a delay of game penalty (and with it, a point penalty). Kyrgios, who was completely off the rails by that point and holding his racket by the wrong end, said that he was ready to receive and that he has “hit the ball with the handle before.” A baffled Khachanov paused, quite unsure what to do. “Go ahead and serve” was Kyrgios’s advice. The Russian waited.
Kyrgios threw a water bottle, groused about Nadal some more, hit one of the fastest forehands I have ever seen, then said to Fergus, “Was that too slow? Too fast??” Then in the third set, he turned to his box and said, “Nope. I’m not doing it” and proceeded to lose the match quite deliberately. He greeted Khachanov warmly enough at the net, even hugging the Russian. However, his address to Fergus Murphy was to call him a f–king tool and spit in his general direction.
As this post is already lengthy, I will gather my dizzying array of thoughts on Nick Kyrgios as bullet points for your consideration:
- Strictly speaking, this is not normal behavior. And I don’t mean “oh tennis is a gentleman’s sport and Nick Kyrgios isn’t a gentleman.” We all fool ourselves into thinking that’s why it seems so outrageous, but it would still be outrageous if Nick were an accountant who spit at his boss when he was displeased
- Khachanov was little more than an interested observer in this match, relegated to spectator by NK’s railroading. Shockingly disrespectful, really.
- Kyrgios’s constant complaining about the Big 3 borders on obsessive
- Fergus Murphy let Kyrgios bully him. Surprising, since Fergus has been known to do his own bullying from time to time. He probably allowed Kyrgios too much latitude in the third set
- The $113,000 fine wasn’t enough. You spit at a chair umpire, you should get suspended. End of argument.
- I like feisty players, and I’m not dishonest enough to claim I’m not entertained by the erratic behavior…but the quitting thing he does is unforgivable. His goal seems to be to telegraph as clearly as possible that he doesn’t give a damn about the sport. Good job, Nick. Message received loudly and clearly.
- It was well done to Khachanov to keep his head in the face of Nick’s histrionics. Tennis is a sport that requires immense concentration even in the best circumstances. I can’t imagine how difficult it was for him to play a surly, bad-tempered court jester.
great stuff as always
#Dali
Javy Baez for President: “One thing I know for sure is Rafael Nadal has a rent free expansive, luxurious and lush piece of property in Nick Kyrgios head. Rafael Nadal isn’t even playing Cincy Tennis and Nick Kyrgios is going on a rant about him. #VamosRafa.”
https://twitter.com/Brightside86/status/1161837177057230848
Hahahahaaa!
It’s a shocking bit of business. Nadal literally had nothing to do with that match. I’m sure I heard Nick mention his name specifically at least 4 times and he referred to Rafa indirectly at least 2 other times. At one point, he blamed getting broken on the Big 3 being put on pedestals. It’s a real head-scratcher.
I think it’s actually pretty simple:
1) Take a talented kid athlete, assure him he’s a shoo-in to make it really big without bothering to exert himself.
2) Kid has a little success when he hits the big time, then discovers that, hey, top tennis really is a lot of work. And pain. And sometimes injury. Discovers he can get a lot of attention, and some $$ without much effort, unless you consider temper tantrums effort.
3) Discovers that the top guys have zero respect for him while he’s eaten up with envy of their success, money and all the respect and admiration they get.
4) I suspect even the ATP is reaching its limits of patience with the NK Show. I’d videotaped last night’s match so I viewed a bit of it – my main takeaway was that there were a LOT of empty seats there. Even Jim Courier was out of patience with the NK show. Tonight’s ESPN commies (Cahill, Gilbert, Fowler) said they refuse to watch once NK starts acting out.
All this is an Object Lesson in why Rafa’s worst fear is arrogance. It’s corrosive and destructive.
Im going to keep repeating myself again………
When oh when oh when will the ATP intervene and provide Kyrios with the mental help that he needs?!! He is a classic case of bipolar, and i really do feel sorry for him. It is so obvious that this is a mental issue, y is no one seeing this? No amount of fines is going to make a difference, it’s only going to get worse, by the way, sigh!! People find it funny but its not, and i don’t think its his fault, its just simply sad. Very sad!
Agree. He is not mentally stable. Really sorry for him. I think deep down he wants to be disciplined and succeed, but just can’t count on his own emotional stability.
Eugene, exactly! I believe so too!
I mean if walking off court just to go break two rackets in the corridor and walk back out on court is not a big red flag, then i really don’t know what is!
I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with this. I don’t know what ails Nick Kyrgios, beyond the obvious fact that he has no impulse control (could certainly be ADHD, but there are other reasons a person struggles with impulse control)…but I can tell you from personal experience that he is not displaying symptoms of bipolar disorder. At all.
Agree. NK’s behavior is self-destructive but it seems to be centered around tennis. He’s generally fairly well liked among at least some of the players and actually enjoys team play. Makes more effort both to behave and to play well at the Laver Cup than anywhere else. He’s apt to pick fights with fans but last night he was signing autographs on his way off court. Go figure.
One thing’s sure: if he isn’t suspended – and it seems that’s still a possibility – he’s going be top of everyone’s “Please don’t let me draw that clown” list.
Nobody wants to draw him anyway because he could literally beat (or lost to) anyone. He’s the biggest wild card in tennis.
Great writing , Cheryl, and the tennis Gods were indeed smiling on you……exciting eye-witness report, and Kyrios remains one of the biggest, least appreciative, jerks in all of sports!
He’s maybe just not suited to highly individual sports like tennis, prefers interacting with people round him as his ‘team’ , but needs to learn a lesson or not be allowed back on court
Big Al, I agree, he should not be allowed back on the court until he gets the mental help he needs.
And Cheryl, Im no doctor or psychologist, and you may be right, Kygrios is not bipolar. It may be far worse!!
They should either suspend him already, or get him help and fast!!!
We do this a lot in society, we realise something is not right but refuse to accept what is is or do anything about it until its way too late~ This is my fear for this kid!
Monalisa, I agree with you!
Kyrgios’ latest shenanigans are of course totally unacceptable for many reasons. And while spitting into the direction of the umpire is low, I especially hate the tanking. The spectators have forked out good and often hard earned money for their tickets, and they deserve that the players will actually make an effort. While some may be entertained by the Kyrgios circus, most people purchased a ticket because they want to watch great tennis and competitive matches. But like you, I also believe that Kyrgios has serious mental issues which need to be addressed asap. While neither the opponent nor the umpire and the audience should’ve to put up with his behavior, Kyrgios is ultimately hurting himself. I’m especially shocked by his latest meltdown because he very recently showed us his sunny side for a whole week in Washington. And he said that this week was one of the best in his life. But despite enjoying himself he doesn’t seem to be able to make long term changes. He reminds me of all those wonderfully gifted but troubled jazz and rock musicians, whose audience doesn’t come any longer for listening to great music but because they anticipate a weirdly entertaining spectacle of public self-destruction. And having to pay fines won’t stop Kyrgios. If he wants to salvage his career he needs professional help. And it may indeed be a good idea to deny him a public stage for a while. He may find out how important tennis really is for him.
Did you watch the Washington matches? After this latest fiasco I’ve read that he misbehaved a lot in DC also.
I watched the whole match and, as a Kyrgios fan, my heart just sank. My best solution for a ‘punishment’ is spending the huge fine (and some) on a compulsory heavy-duty sports psychologist of the ATP’s choosing and no wriggling out of it. Must go for minimum 6 months intensive. Fergus did enjoy watching him lose it and I suspect might have engineered the shot clock thing. They set Fergus on him every second match. But Nick must be seen to be getting the treatment he needs in the matter of anger management and beyond.
I don’t understand why Kyrgios must drag Rafa’s name into this. Rafa no doubt is slow when he’s preparing to serve, but with the shot clock there, Rafa always looks at it before he serves and most of the times, he’s within or just exactly at the 25 seconds mark.
It’s also not true that Rafa didn’t get penalised as he did receive TV warnings when he exceeded the time limit. I do hope Rafa speeds up further, and so Kyrgios has no excuse to bring up Rafa’s name all the time!
What’s really amusing his how everyone kisses his bum when he wins and when he loses the same people come out of the woodwork to scold him. I think this says more about the flakey public than it does Nick Kyrgios.
He’s NK when he’s winning and Kyrgios when he’s losing.
The next time he wins how about people take a step back and say ‘hang on a minute, we still haven’t forgotten about your recent behavior and it will take more than a few well-behaved matches to convince us you have changed’. Maybe then he might make some permanent adjustments to his behavior’. i think part of the reason he acts like this is he knows he can win back support simply by winning a few matches.
Jim, well certainly not from me!
And in defense of some of those ppl you speak of, I think its bcos they really want to see him do well and succeed, and believe deep down Kygrios is not a bad kid. They just want to keep encouraging him. But for me I know there is no point in that approach bcos Kygrios needs professional mental help…..and i don’t say that in a diminishing way.
Totally agree with you!
There’s some truth in what you’re saying. Kyrgios’ bad behavior shouldn’t become more acceptable when he’s playing well for a change. But I suspect that Kyrgios won’t change one iota just because we disapprove of his on-court behavior. Public antagonism seems to stoke rather than to extinguish the fire. There needs to be a strong incentive for Kyrgios to seek professional help for sorting out his mental problems. Monetary fmines won’t do the trick. It might be more effective to put him on probation and to suspend him for a while if he continues to misbehave grossly. But this will only work if there will be noticeable consequences. We have just recently seen that the officials have been very lenient in Fognini’s case at Wimby, who was also under probation and a suspension was looming. The problem in Foggie’s case was probably that there was no consensus as to how bad his latest verbal outburst really was…
This latest meltdown from Kyrgios should earn him a suspension. I don’t care if he has mental issues. He is a menace and an embarrassment on the court. I felt bad for Khachanov having to try and focus and concentrate amidst this nonsense. There is no reason why Kyrgios should be indulged here. The spitting at people is especially disturbing. Kyrgios did it in his match at Wimbledon with Rafa. Who does that? That is behavior that would get anyone kicked out of a sport. Kyrgios is out of control and getting worse. It is not even remotely entertaining to watch him cause a ruckus in his matches.
Let him be suspended and get some help. Until then he stays off the court. There are too many professional players in the men’s game who are able to conduct themselves with decency. It is not fair to the spectators, the chair umpires or the other players who are actually there to play tennis.
I reckon it’s part of the entertainment. It’s big business this being talked about all day through the media outlets. Tennis needs this stuff happening to keep people engaged.
It’s more staged than WWE wrestling.
https://youtu.be/GdkV1XrSznI
Tennis is an entertainment business.
Every time Kyrgios does this its worth 10s of million to the ATP and media outlets.
This article was fun to read, I thought I was right there experiencing it all 😂, well done Ricky.
Not Ricky’s article. 🙂
Sorry!
Well done Cheryl Murray 👍, I just read it without checking the author.
Another exquisite article by cheryl. I love reading your articles, it’s always such a pleasure. I think you might be the best sport writer I have ever seen. I remember the article you wrote in tennistalk about the first time you saw rafa on clay describing him as a fish in water. Your diction and the picturesque tone and descriptions in your articles are just splendid.
As for kyrgios, I don’t even know where to begin. He should be suspended for months, period. I couldn’t agree more with Nativenewyorker. I DON’T CARE IF HE HAS MENTAL ISSUES. Spitting and tanking a match is beyond despicable. He is a child that needs to be seriously reprimanded. He makes John mcenroe’s outbursts in his younger days appear civilised. A lot of people and media outlets find his childish foolishness entertaining but if it was serena williams, she will be roasted to ashes by everyone. Nobody has ever viewed serena’s outbursts as “entertaining” and good for the sport”. The double standard is outrageous.
Nick is continuing this foolishness because he has never been seriously punished but instead is emboldened the more by the mantra that it is “good for the sports”, “entertaining” and he is the “bad boy of tennis”. Let’s not excuse his behaviour as some mental issue. In my humble opinion, I believe he doesn’t have any mental issues. Sorry but he is fully aware of what he is doing and relishes it because there are no consequences, period.
Please, what is this laughable obsession with rafa and djokovic? Jealous much? He may be talented but so are a lot of others and there are some that are more talented than him cause I don’t believe that nick is the best thing since sliced bread with regards to talent. People should stop waxing lyrical about that because it only pumps his already over-inflated ego.
I’m sorry if I am being rude or overtly critical of him but it is getting intolerably ridiculous. I can’t even watch his matches anymore. Sorry but i can’t continue to subject myself to viewing such unnecessary childish tantrums and intentionally blatant stupidity.
When he means to play great tennis, he willfully does and beats anyone including rafa and djoko and fed. So when he meets them, he willfully concentrates to beats them and is less provocative and sometimes well behaved. When he beat djoko in straight sets twice in a row, he was relatively well behaved because he really wanted to beat him. So he knows what he’s doing and that’s why I don’t buy the whole mental issue context nor do I care for it.
Punish him severely and he’ll begin to consider his ways. Case closed.
That is a very kind compliment. Thank you!
And I agree that there is a double standard. Serena is a poor sport some of the time, so I don’t disagree with holding her accountable for her bad behavior…but why not hold everyone else to the same standards?? Imagine for a moment if it were Djokovic who suddenly started spitting at umpires. He’d get booed off every court he stepped on. But Kyrgios has as many fans as he has detractors. It’s just an ugly business.
Happy,
Thank you! I am so fed up with all this talk about mental issues! Please! Kyrgios is a brat who was obviously never taught how to tear people respectfully. Comments from his brother indicate that this boorish and vile behavior runs in the family. Kyrgios never learned how to behave. He prances around the court like the world owes him something. He is continuing this behavior because he is getting away with it. Absolutely! He keeps pushing the envelope to see what he can get away with. He does not understand the concept of boundaries. Those running this sport give him a pass. So we all watch while Kyrgios spews out his bile to anyone and everyone. If he left the sport, he would not be missed.
One final comment – this is NOT entertainment! There is nothing that is even remotely enjoyable or worthwhile in watching a player spit at opponents or chair umpires. Bashing rackets, verbally abusing everyone, leaving the court without permission. Kyrgios has zero class. He is a rotten person. Case closed.
Kyrgios was never taught how to TREAT people. *
NK has to learn that he cant spit his dummy out after every loss, he really needs to grow up ….
Another thing some Federer fans seem to think hes wonderful, such a character, so entertaining blah, blah, yet Berdych gets called all kinds of names simply because he dared to beat their idol at Wimbledon in 2010, they still havent forgiven the guy for that, go figure ….
Well, he’s a Federer fanboy, so he gets a wide pass on that front.
^ True ^
Talking about Rafa! Everyone’s talking about how good a player Medvedev is. I have no doubt he is bcos he’s been smoking everybody this week, see him thrashing Rublev who just beat Roger yesterday, But last week in Canada, Rafa made him look so ordinary!! I mean, seriously, lol!
Wasn’t it his first Masters final ? Plus the windy conditions were against him , and he played a lot more tennis . Still playing…
So? Medvedev has to learn how to deal with the wind! If you can’t adjust your play to handle windy conditions, then you’re not good enough!
Medvedev simply doesn’t have Rafa’s full arsenal of shots and varieties. He’s basically grinding from the back of the court and relying on his big serve (granted, he has an unorthodox BH and can change directions well, learning from his model player Djoko) but he’s no Djoko. It may be enough to deal with one dimensional players but not enough when facing a player of Rafa’s caliber.
So? He’s young and inexperienced, and played a lot of tennis lately.
Hardly a GOAT contender yet, what do you expect?
I don’t expect much but it’s you people who big him up, after seeing how he beat Thiem and Khachanov. Frankly, I expect Rafa to beat him in the Montreal final, and sure Rafa did.
You people? Fed fans? Why do you bring the Fedal into everything? I just like players who are a bit different.
Why so sensitive? I didn’t even mention Fed fans here! But there are people here (Fed fans or not) who predicted a Medvedev win over Rafa in that final.
And imagine for that match, i was not nervous for one bit as I usually am when Rafa plays! Rafa basically took the racket from his hands, wind or no wind.
But let’s me be fair, it was the first time he was playing Rafa but that was like practice for Rafa in Canada my mom and I felt!
Anyway, happy that Medvedev is having a great season, looking forward to more matches with him and Rafa which I suspect will get more competitive
I wasn’t one of them.I wouldn’t read too much into it anyway,first meeting,first big final.
I don’t understand what all this discussion is about. Medvedev was in his first Masters final. The conditions were not ideal. He was playing an all-time great. Rafa controlled the match all the way and won very easily.
Medvedev got some valuable experience. Now he has to keep working to get better. He got the chance to measure himself against a great champion. It was a reality check. It’s not being demeaning to Medvedev to state the facts. If he is smart, then he will learn from the experience.