Umpire a 'clown', says unapologetic Kyrgios in Miami

MIAMI • Nick Kyrgios continued to blast the chair umpire overseeing his 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 loss to Jannik Sinner at the Miami Open after the round-of-16 match on Tuesday, when the fiery Australian was given a point and then a game penalty as he again unravelled.

After repeatedly berating umpire Carlos Bernardes for what he saw as his inability to control the crowd, the world No. 102 received a point penalty in the first-set tiebreaker after telling a friend in the stands that he could do a better job of officiating.

The tournament wild card was then given a game penalty after he repeatedly yelled: "What is unsportsmanlike?" while whacking his racket against his bag and the court ahead of the second set.

The penalty put Sinner up a break to begin the second, and the Italian progressed from there into the quarter-finals.

An irate Kyrgios, who also called Bernardes "an absolute clown", later said: "I just don't think he controls the crowd well at all, in my personal opinion. People can have their opinions on it. I just don't think my point penalty was worth a point penalty."

He nearly hit a ball boy with his racket after throwing it following his quarter-final loss to Rafael Nadal in Indian Wells earlier this month, which earned him a US$25,000 (S$33,900) fine.

The 26-year-old then said he did not feel that fine was warranted, noting that he apologised to the ball boy and gave him a racket the day after the incident.

Kyrgios is certain to face another similar punishment and he could even be handed a suspension but he claimed that he was not being protected enough unlike the game's officials.

"The ATP don't give a f***. How much do I bring to the sport? The problem with tennis is that it doesn't protect our stars at all. We love to outcast them," he said.

"The ATP never defends their players and stands up to them. I am used to it, have been used to it my whole career and it sucks."

The Australian added that he did not think he had done anything worthy of a fine on Tuesday.

"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. "He's (Bernardes) 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."

Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev is one win away from retaking the world No. 1 spot from Novak Djokovic after defeating American Jenson Brooksby 7-5, 6-1 to reach the Miami Open quarter-finals.

In the women's draw, Japan's Naomi Osaka thumped 13 aces and 25 winners to defeat an injured Danielle Collins 6-2, 6-1 to reach the semi-finals, where she will meet Tokyo Games gold medallist Belinda Bencic.

REUTERS

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