Nick Kyrgios lashed out at the chair umpire and the ATP after another meltdown hastened his exit from the Miami Masters.
Kyrgios was served a point penalty and then a game penalty during his 6-7(3), 3-6 defeat to Jannik Sinner in the Round of 16.
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The Australian had received a wild card in singles for Miami. He received a point penalty after repeatedly berating umpire Carlos Bernardes over his inability to control the crowd.
‘You could do the job of the umpire’ – what was said to my best friend that got me ‘unsportsmanlike code violation’ at 5-3 in the first set tie break. With 100 of thousands of dollars on the line that was the decision he made because the umpires ‘feelings got hurt. GET NEW PEOPLE
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) March 29, 2022
After he repeatedly yelled, “What is unsportsmanlike?” at Bernardes and whacked his racquet against his bag and the court, he was handed a game penalty.
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That put Sinner up a break to begin the second, and the young Italian rolled from there into the quarterfinals.
“I just don’t think he controls the crowd well at all, in my personal opinion,” Kyrgios told the media later.
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“People can have their opinions on it. I just don’t think my point penalty was worth a point penalty.”
Don’t get it twisted. I got mad respect for @janniksin ⚡️⚡️ he is one of my favourite players and he was TOO GOOD. I am aiming all of this at an umpire who clearly ISNT GOOD ENOUGH to be doing these matches. Nothing but a slap on the wrist for him right? What a joke.
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) March 30, 2022
Kyrgios nearly hit a ball boy with his racket after throwing it following his quarterfinal loss to Rafael Nadal in Indian Wells earlier this month, which earned him a $25,000 fine.
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He said he did not feel that fine was warranted, noting that he apologised to the ball boy and gave him a racquet the day after the incident.
“I don’t personally care, because I know I’m a good person … but I don’t understand what could you possibly fine me for today,” he said.
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“That’s the thing. He’s going to get nothing,” Kyrgios added. “He’s not even going to get a slap on the wrist for his dreadful umpiring performance today. Like he was horrendous.
“But the ATP won’t do anything about him. There will be no bad articles on him. He will just show up in the next event, and everyone just forgets how bad that was today from him.
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“But again, I will have to deal with the negativity, I will have to deal with the bad comments, my girlfriend has to deal with the bad comments, my team has to deal with the bad comments. And ATP doesn’t give a f**k. So that’s it.”
Special K, Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis, meanwhile, entered the semifinal of the men’s doubles event with a 7-5, 6-2 win over third seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.
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