Nick Kyrgios is not known to be measured in his words or approach and he once again dished out a plate of his boisterous self when he lashed out at the umpire after losing his doubles match at the Miami Open on March 24.
Kyrgios was playing a round of 32 doubles match in Miami with Taylor Fritz as his partner and they were pitted against the duo of Guido Pella and Joao Sousa. The match had its moments but the real headline grabber was Kyrgios' tirade against the match umpire following their 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 10-8 defeat to the unfancied pair.
"What the f**k is wrong with you?" Kyrgios yelled at the umpire. "You're a disgrace. You're a f*****g disgrace." Kyrgios then smashed his racquet on the hard court and damaged it. As one of the ball boys picked up the disfigured racquet, the 23-year-old continued his tirade amid a mixture of cheers and boos from the crowd. "You think that's alright, yes or no? He's a disgrace. Come down here and play 100 per cent when you deal with this," Kyrgios said. "It's rubbish."
But as he is used to doing, the Australian later cooled down and retweeted a fan tweet from the match where he fell down and lost his racquet but went on to win the point. Kyrgios humoured himself in the post and called himself a giraffe while saying that his brother and partner Taylor Fritz has always got his back.
This incident was not the first instance of Kyrgios disrespecting on-court personnel as he had a verbal showdown with Rafael Nadal earlier this year after the fiery youngster defeated the Spaniard in a thrilling three-set match at the Mexican Open. The match lasted three hours and three minutes where Kyrgios saved six break points and three match points before finally knocking out the tournament's top seed.
But Nadal was least impressed with his opponent's antics during the match which included an underarm serve. After the match, the 17-time grand slam winner said, "He is a player who has ginormous talent. He could win Grand Slams and fight the top positions of the ranking, but there is a reason why he is where he is. He lacks respect for the public, the rival and towards himself."
Kyrgios, not one to stay silent, fired back at the veteran saying, "I'm different. Rafa's different. He can focus on what he needs to do. He doesn't know the journey I've been through. He doesn't know anything about me so I'm not going to listen at all."
The Australian laid into Nadal for his style of play wherein he takes time between points. "It's the way I play. It's the way he plays - he's very slow between points and I think that the rule in the book is that you have to play to the speed of the server but Rafa has the speed every time," Kyrgios said.
Kyrgios did manage to back up his talk by winning the Mexican Open earlier this month and will now focus on his round of 32 singles encounter at the Miami Open where he will face Dusan Lajovic on Monday, March 25.
