WIMBLEDON, England — Nick Kyrgios cursed the Wimbledon chair umpire and asked, “Are you stupid?” He demanded to see a Grand Slam supervisor after wondering why his opponent, Stefanos Tsitsipasdidn’t lose their always-controversial, never-boring game for angrily hitting a ball in the stands after dropping the second set.
Unhappy with the answer, Kyrgios asked, “What are you talking about, bro?” Then came this: “Bring out more counselors. I’m not done. Get them all out. I do not give a hoot. … I won’t play until we get this down to the bottom.”
Narrator: He kept playing on Saturday. And the unpredictable, unseeded Kyrgios won and defeated number 4 seeded Tsitsipas 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7), reaching the All England Club for the first time since the fourth round 2016.
There was more, so much more, from forearms being hit by the Kyrgios—including one between his legs—to the three shots Tsitsipas purposefully slammed into him. A total of three code violations were called by the chair umpire Damien Dumusoisone on Kyrgios for an audible obscenity, and two on Tsitsipas for misuse of the ball, which earned a penalty point.
There was even great tennis along the way, with the players totaling 118 winners. It all lasted 3 hours 17 minutes, with almost a dull moment, and it ended so late that the retractable roof of Court No 1 closed and the artificial lights came on halfway through the fourth set.
Tsitsipas had a few set points to force a fifth, but Kyrgios saved both, the latter taking a half volley winner after serve-and-volley on a second serve.
Kyrgios, a 27-year-old from Australia, converted his second match point with a drop shot and then roared. That kind of skill has always been evident from Kyrgios, who was a two-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist. Also long-obvious: Kyrgios often seems more interested in entertaining or arguing than doing whatever it takes to finish on the right side of the score.
On Saturday, during a switch midway through the fourth set, Kyrgios sat in his chair barking between bites on a banana. Did he yell at an official? With the people in his guest box? On it’s own? Hard to know with him, sometimes.
He was fined $10,000 by the tournament for unsportsmanlike conduct during his first round match, which he ended by spitting at a spectator he said was disturbing him. It is the largest of the 22 prize money penalties issued in Week 1.
His troubles with Dumusois started in the first set when he was interrupted by a reverse call from a linesman and he wanted that official removed. Didn’t happen.
After Kyrgios broke to take the second set, Tsitsipas backhanded a ball into the crowd. The ball seemed to bounce off a wall, but what wasn’t quite clear was if it landed on someone.
That only resulted in a warning from Dumusois, who did not go down well with Kyrgios.
“You can’t hit a ball in the crowd and hit someone without failing,” said Kyrgios, who cited the 2020 US Open episode involving Novak Djokovic, who was thrown out of a match after accidentally hitting a ball. who had hit a linesman in the throat.
At one point, Kyrgios told Dumusois: “You don’t know how to play, so why don’t you tell me how to play? … Bro, people want to see me, not you.”
Monday they get another chance to see Kyrgios, when he faces each other Brandon Nakashima for a place in the quarterfinals. Nakashima is one of four American men in the fourth round, the most at Wimbledon since 1999.
Monday’s other men’s matches are 22-time Major Rafael Nadal against No. 21 Botic of the Sand ScallopNo. 11 Taylor Fritz against qualification Jason Kublerand no. 19 Alex de Minaure against Cristian Garin†
Nadal’s 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 27 Lorenzo Sonego wasn’t nearly as off-the-rail as Kyrgios vs. Tsitsipas, but it had its own bit of back and forth between the players over etiquette.
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Nick Kyrgios swears, calls for absenteeism, demands supervisor in Wimbledon win originally appeared on NBCSports.com