KYRGIOS IN FOUL-MOUTHED RANT AT UMPIRE
NICK KYRGIOS did not waste any time embroiling himself in controversy at the French Open, accusing officials of double standards when dealing with his behaviour. The volatile Australian was given a code violation for snapping at a ball boy, but at least had the consolation of safely reaching the second round on a rain-ruined opening day. Heather Watson, the only British player in action, was left hanging at 4-6, 6-2, 1-2 overnight when the weather finally drove her match against American Nicole Gibbs off-court. Kyrgios defeated Italian Marco Cecchinato 7-6, 7-6 6-4 but, amid the tension of an opening tiebreak, laid into umpire Carlos Ramos after being officially warned for barking at the ball boy when he wanted his towel. Afterwards Kyrgios drew a comparison with the incident at the Italian Open 10 days ago, when Novak Djokovic put his hand on umpire Carlos Bernardes’s arm when disputing a mark on the clay. That went unpunished. ‘I think we all know in this room if that was me that did that, it would be an absolute circus,’ said Kyrgios after the match. ‘But he did it and nothing really happened of it. It speaks for itself.’ Kyrgios has a point about that discrepancy, but the industrial language used in his tirade at the chair was plain wrong. Describing the decision as ‘****ing bull****’ and showing ‘unbelievable bias, man,’ he demanded: ‘How can you sit there and give me a code for that? But when Djokovic pushes an umpire out of the way that’s alright? Tell the whole world that’s alright. ‘The crowd is too loud for him (the ball boy) to hear me, so I go “towel” louder than usual and you give me a code for being unsportsmanlike? Really? What rule am I breaking?’ Later, away from the heat of the moment, Kyrgios was more level-headed. ‘Every time I get a towel from a ball kid I say, “Thank you,”’ he explained. ‘Sometimes when you’re a bit frustrated you do, not scream at them, but you do get a little mad at them. ‘For me that time I didn’t get mad at all. I just said it a little bit louder. The crowd was going on. I just felt like it (the code violation) was a bit rough.’ Watson, battling to ensure her place at the Olympics, struggled with the moonballing tactics of Gibbs after going an early break up, and went into a three-hour rain delay at 3-2 in the second set. After that she ran off the next three games to level, but was a break down at 1-2 in the decider when it was abandoned for the day. It was a nervy affair throughout and more of the same can be expected when they resume at lunch-time today. Andy Murray is due to play later this afternoon against wily Czech veteran Radek Stepanek, with Kyle Edmund and Naomi Broady also on the schedule. However, today’s weather forecast suggests more rain before it brightens up for the rest of the week.