Rise and rise of the boofhead: Kyrgios antics shock even the baddest boys of tennis
Pat Cash has launched a blistering attack on Nick Kyrgios, accusing his fellow Australian of cheating, abuse and dragging tennis down to new depths.
The 1987 Wimbledon champion, who commentated on Kyrgiosâs spiteful barn-burner of a victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas on Saturday, said the controversial Canberra showman was turning the game into a circus.
Both men were hit on Sunday for their dismal behaviour.
Tsitsipas was fined $US10,000 ($A14,700) for hitting a ball which narrowly missed spectators and Kyrgios, whoâd already received the same punishment after spitting in his first-round match, was slugged a further $US4,000 ($A6,000) for his histrionics.
With Kyrgios given his first centre-court date of the championships on Monday in a fourth-round clash with American Brandon Nakashima, Cash said pointedly: âLetâs hope he doesnât drop tennis there to a lower level than he did on Saturday.â
Cash wasnât the only luminary to lambast Kyrgios, as Mats Wilander and even the greatest âbad boyâ of them all, John McEnroe, both weighed in.
In Saturdayâs contest, Tsitsipas could easily have been defaulted for whacking the ball into the crowd, and Kyrgios, whoâd aimed foul-mouthed tirades at hapless chair umpire Damien Dumusois, tried to get the official to do just that.
You might like
The Greek, who twice also deliberately aimed to hit his opponent with the ball, claimed afterwards the Australian was a bully and had an âevil sideâ while Kyrgios shrugged Tsitsipas was just soft and had âserious issuesâ.
But Cash, in the BBC commentary box, was left disgusted by his compatriot.
âIt was absolute mayhem,â he said on BBC radio on Sunday.
âHeâs brought tennis to the lowest level I can see as far as gamesmanship, cheating, manipulation, abuse, aggressive behaviour to umpires, to linesmen.
âHe was lucky to even get through the first set, he should have been defaulted in the first set.
âSomethingâs got to be done about it â itâs just an absolute circus. Is it entertaining? Yeah, possibly. Itâs gone to the absolute limit now.â
Stay informed, daily
Pressed on the cheating, Cash added: âThe gamesmanship. The abuse he was giving.
âTsitsipas would make a line call and heâd go up there and start complaining, heâd be in his face â thatâs part of gamesmanship, thatâs the sort of stuff he does and I think thereâs a limit.
âI have no problems with a bit of gamesmanship but, when it gets to that level, I think itâs just out of control.
âAs it was, the umpire lost control. The ball kids were running across the court as Kyrgios was serving, he didnât slow down for any of that stuff.
âTsitsipas got sucked right into it â so it was entertaining and fascinating, but for me itâs gone too far now.â
Cash was speaking after heâd been on centre court for the centenary parade of former champions but heâs evidently concerned at the prospect of how Kyrgios might conduct himself there.
Three-time Australian Open champion Wilander told Eurosport: âIâve never seen anything like it.
âIâm not sure I want to see something like that again, to be honest, because I donât think this is what we want to promote in tennis. We want to not promote it as entertainment.
âWe want to promote it as inspirational, educational, but this is what people maybe want to see. Iâm not sure Iâm a big fan of whatâs going on to be honest.â
The greatest irony was McEnroeâs attack while commentating for ESPN. âItâs embarrassing. He doesnât need to do all this,â said the man once dubbed âSuperbratâ at SW19 for his behaviour but is now one of its favourite fixtures.
âItâs scary how good he is â thatâs whatâs sad in a way.â
Want to see more stories from InDaily Qld in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily Qld as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily Qld". That's it.
