Was Kyrgios coached by ump?
NEW YORK Nick Kyrgios was losing big at the U.S. Open on Thursday, and barely even trying. Didn’t move while so-so serves flew by for aces. Casually put groundstrokes into the net. Double-faulted without caring.
The crowd began booing. The chair umpire, Mohamed Lahyani, decided to intervene. In an unusual sight for Grand Slam tennis, Lahyani clambered down out of his seat during a break between games, leaned over with hands on knees, and spoke with the 30th-seeded Kyrgios, saying, among other things, “I want to help you.”
It all seemed like an impromptu intervention for the mercurial Kyrgios, right out there on Court 17 at Flushing Meadows, and it raised questions about whether Lahyani overstepped his duties as someone who’s primarily there to keep score and keep order. Kyrgios went from trailing by a set and a break at the time to wresting control of the match — setting up a third-round showdown against Roger Federer — by coming back to beat PierreHugues Herbert 4-6, 7-6 (6), 63, 6-0.
“This was not his job,” Herbert said about Lahyani, whom he thinks should be sanctioned in some way. “I don’t think he’s a coach, he’s an umpire, and he should stay on his chair for that.”
The U.S. Open’s referee and chief umpire were reviewing what happened, as was the Grand Slam Board. Chair umpires are never made available to the media, but tournament referee Brian Earley said Lahyani explained that he left his perch “to make sure he could communicate effectively” with Kyrgios in a noisy arena.
During an occasionally confrontational and sarcastic exchange with reporters, Kyrgios laughed at the suggestion that he had received coaching or a pep talk from Lahyani.
“I mean, like, I don’t have a coach. I haven’t had a coach for, like, years. Of course he wasn’t coaching me. Like, what are you talking about?” Kyrgios said.
“He said he liked me. I’m not sure if that was encouragement. He just said that it’s not a good look,” Kyrgios said about his chat with Lahyani. “Look. I wasn’t feeling good. I know what I was doing out there wasn’t good. I wasn’t really listening to him, but I knew it wasn’t a good look.”
Kyrgios, a 23-year-old Australian, has run into trouble in the past for not giving his all during matches, even drawing a fine and suspension from the ATP men’s tour in 2016.
Bouchard ousted in second round
Eugenie Bouchard was blunt when assessing her inconsistent performance in her second-round loss at the U.S. Open on Thursday.
After rolling through three qualifying matches and posting an easy win in the first round, the native of Westmount, Que., lost 6-4, 6-3 to Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic in the second round of the U.S. Open on Thursday.
While Bouchard has earned some praise for a recent improvement in her results after tumbling down the rankings in previous years, the world’s 137th-ranked player struggled against the 103rdranked Vondrousova.
“Yeah, on the court, I really didn’t feel like myself,” Bouchard said. “That’s very disappointing, considering how good I felt in my last couple matches. Yeah, I mean, I played like (expletive).”
“I think I’ll have to take a lot of positives from the past couple weeks,” she added. “Although I’m very disappointed with today, I’ve been playing matches, and that’s what I feel like I need.”
The Czech player broke Bouchard six times in the match, including the final game. Bouchard, who was once ranked No. 5 in the world, won just 59 per cent of her points on first serve.
The 24-year-old Bouchard was the only Canadian in the women’s singles draw.