HE SAID WHAT?

Things you wouldn’t expect to see on a sporting field ... but obviously no one told this tennis umpire

The tennis world is in shock after chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani’s extraordinary interaction yesterday with Australian Nick Kyrgios at the US Open. The 30th seed was struggling badly in his second-round match and appeared to be tanking, prompting a chorus of boos from the Flushing Meadows crowd. Lahyani reportedly told him, “I want to help you” and raised the prospect of taking action if Kyrgios didn’t start trying.

NICK Kyrgios was losing big at the US Open yesterday, 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 was 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, stood with hands on knees, and spoke with 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 whose primarily there to keep score and order.

Kyrgios went from trailing by a set and a break at the time to wresting control of the match — setting up a thirdround showdown against Roger Federer — by coming back to beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-0.

“This was not his job,” Herbert said after the match, adding that he thinks Lahyani should be sanctioned. “I don’t think he’s a coach — he’s an umpire, and he should stay on his chair for that.”

The US 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 the noisy arena.

According to Earley, the official said he wanted to check whether Kyrgios needed medical attention and to warn the player that he “would need to take action” if the “seeming lack of interest in the match continued”.

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 just said that it’s not a good look.”