Nick Kyrgios mocked Rafael Nadal after receiving a time violation warning at the Halle ATP event.
The Australian was given the time violation warning in the second set as he was taking too long to face Stefanos Tsitsipas’ serve during their Round of 16 match at the grasscourt event.
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Upset by the decision, the 27-year-old approached the chair umpire to plead his case.
*time violation warning mr Kyrgios*
the supervisor arrives, Tsitsipas keeps serving, everything is so perfect pic.twitter.com/yJT79W3U9M— Garbee|| Serena is coming ❤️ (@muguruthlessN1) June 15, 2022
“I can’t go to my towel? I waited so many times for Rafa,” Kyrgios told the umpire.
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On Kyrgios’ request, the supervisor was called to the court. The match resumed after the supervisor talked him down, but Kyrgios continued to fume over the warning.
“He said I was playing too slow,” he said during the media interaction. “Statistically I’m one of the fastest!
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“I had to walk to the sidelines to get my towel. There is this thing called sweat in 30 Celsius heat that runs down onto your hands. I needed to wipe my hands – and he gave me a warning.”
Earlier in the match, Kyrgios had received another code violation for breaking his racquet after losing the opening set.
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Despite the code violations though, Kyrgios defeated World No 4 Tsitsipas 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in an entertaining contest.
Explaining his inability to win a grass title so far in his career, Nick Kyrgios said: “Well, it doesn’t help that there’s only four, five weeks a year on grass.”
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“If there were as many grass-court tournaments in Australia as there are clay-court tournaments in Europe, I’d never leave Australia,” he added.
“I feel like I’m one of the best on the grass and hopefully maybe it will be this weeks. But it’s one round at a time and we’ll see how it goes.”
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The temperamental Australian will take on Pablo Carreno Busta in the next round.
