TENNISKYRGIOS ATTRACTS MORE SCRUTINY

Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios’ previous outbursts and bad behaviour have meant that umpires are probably keeping a closer eye on him than his opponents, according to compatriot Todd Woodbridge.

The 23-year-old Kyrgios was involved in a row with French official Damien Dumusois during his shock first round loss to American qualifier Bradley Klahn at the Shanghai Masters on Monday.

Dumusois told Kyrgios a point early in the second set “was really borderline”, which prompted a fiery response from the Australian who reacted by saying “I don’t care”.

Woodbridge said on Tuesday that Kyrgios probably attracted the extra scrutiny on himself.

“It’s interesting when you watch him, the umpires are watching him more closely than generally they watch the other end,” Woodbridge told reporters at an event for next year’s Australian Open.

“A little bit of that has been brought on by himself. It’s fair to say he gets engaged a little too often.” Kyrgios, who lost 4-6 6-4 6-3 to Klahn, has previously courted controversy at the same event.

Last year he was fined $10,000 and forfeited his first-round loser’s cheque following a decision to walk off after losing the first set against Steve Johnson.

In 2016, he was banned for eight tournament weeks and fined a total of $41,500 after he was beaten 6-3 6-1 by Mischa Zverev in a secondround match in which Kyrgios put in a series of half-hearted serves and appeared to be walking off court before the unseeded German had returned the ball to him.

Monday’s controversy was also the second time within the last six weeks that Kyrgios’ effort has been questioned by an official.