‘ATP never defends their players’- Nick Kyrgios blasts at ATP on the disparity in treatment as he compares his offence with Denis Shapovalov

‘ATP never defends their players’- Nick Kyrgios blasts at ATP on the disparity in treatment as he compares his offence with Denis Shapovalov

Nick Kyrgios, Denis Shapovalov

Nick Kyrgios‘s journey at the 2022 Miami Open ended on a sour note. His meltdown against the umpire made the headline rather than his defeat against Jannik Sinner. However, the Australian has refused to apologize for his actions. Kyrgios even insisted that he does not care much about receiving further sanction for not apologizing to the umpire. 

The Australian was not with some of the decisions made by the match umpire Carlos Bernardes. Kyrgios lost his cool a week ago at the Indian Wells when he was up against Rafael Nadal. He was fined $25,000 for racquet abuse and verbal obscenities against the same Brazilian umpire. 

A week later he was not happy with him either as Kyrgios was not amused with Bernardes as his walkie-talkie went off in mid-game in the first set. The Australian was raging in the verbal exchange as he called him “an absolute clown’ and also felt that he was an “embarrassment”. 

Kyrgios continued raging and having already received a code violation for an audible obscenity, he was hit with a point penalty when the score was 5-3 in the first set tiebreaker for unsportsmanlike behavior as he seemingly had a chat with a friend from the crowd. 

Things did not end there as Kyrgios who was not happy with all the decisions going against him smashed his racquet in anger and received a game penalty right at the start of the second set. He eventually lost 7-6(3), 6-3 against Sinner bowing out of the Miami Open.

Nick Kyrgios lashes out at the match umpire again at the press conference

Nick Kyrgios
Nick Kyrgios

Speaking to AFP on the controversy regarding match umpire Carlos Bernardes, Kyrgios highlighted how the Brazilian was not good enough to do his job. “I just don’t think he (Bernardes) controls the crowd well at all,” the Australian told AFP.

“For the point penalty, all I said to my team was that Matthew Reid, an ex-player, could do just as good a job. If that’s worth a point penalty at a Masters event, that is ridiculous in my opinion.”

He also highlighted how the fans have come to watch tennis and Jannik Sinner and he should be the center of attention and not the match umpire. “When everyone in the crowd is booing an umpire and he is becoming the center of attention, that is not his job. No one in the stadium came to see him talk or do what he does.”

“You’ve got Jannik Sinner who is one of our greatest stars and, not to toot my horn, the majority of people are there to watch me play,” Kyrgios added. 

The Australian went on to share how the umpire’s feelings were hurt by what he said as he also pointed out how the crowd booed Bernardes. “And you have a guy talking while I was 40-0 up. He was talking. I was like ‘what are you doing?’ The crowd actually hated him that much they told him to be quiet.

“If you are getting booed by the crowd you are not doing a good job. He made it about himself and apparently his feelings were hurt by what I said and what the crowd said. You can’t be like that if you’re an umpire,” he concluded. 

Kyrgios fires shots at ATP

Nick Kyrgios
Nick Kyrgios

The Australian was fuming at the post-match press conference as well where he questioned the disparity in fines as he shared that he genuinely cares that hefty fines are slapped on him for his actions. He said, “Well, it’s not that I don’t care, I just don’t think it’s fair. Like I just hate to bring up the same things over and over again. But Shapovalov nailed a ball in someone’s eyeball and got 5 grand. I can throw a racquet at Indian Wells, didn’t even hit anyone, and I’m getting 25 grand.”

Questioning the ATP, he said, “Where is the balance? Like how much do I bring for the sport? Like that’s the problem with tennis, we just don’t protect our stars at all. We love to outcast them and full of bad media. ATP never defends their players, never stands up for them.”

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