Nick throws in the towel
A ROUGH couple of days for the Kyrgios clan. Halimah was voted off The Voice. Nick was sent packing from the US Open in another whirlwind of lame and ridiculous excuses.
Sometimes Rita Ora and the sporting gods just sit in their red chairs and conspire against you, eh?
Nick said farewell to this tournament in a miserable 6-3 6-4 6-0 loss to Spanish 18th seed Roberto Bautista Agut.
What a shame New York City is off-limits to Australians. How grand it would have been to attend Kyrgios’ press conference in New York and ask this question. What would you rather have – a million Instagram followers or one tennis major?
Flushing Meadows isn’t really Flushing Meadows until Mike Tyson takes his seat for day one.
The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre was spectator-less, Tyson-less and soulless last year but the masses flocked for a flurry of firstround matches on the same night as Broadway flung open its doors for the first time since the pandemic rendered everyone mute.
It was difficult to know where the most enthralling theatre would be – Manhattan’s musicals or Kyrgios inside Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Kyrgios knew from the getgo he was in trouble. It was stinking hot. The Spaniard was fitter.
Kyrgios started ranting about the inconvenience of having to get his own towels. Unfair in the heat, he said. Too far to walk, he said.
He seemed to forget the tournament could only go ahead because of Covid protocols such as this one.
Bautista Agut survived the horrors of having to get his own towels in an unflinching victory.
Kyrgios told umpire Carlos Bernardes he shouldn’t have to get his own towels because “my job is to come out here and play for the people”.
Bernardes and Bautista Agut gave him short shrift but
Kyrgios continued on and referenced a controversially long bathroom break taken by Stefanos Tsitsipas in his five-set victory over Andy Murray.
“It’s not part of the game,” Kyrgios said at a change of ends.
“Is taking 20-minute bathroom breaks a part of the game, too? Everything’s part of the game. I need to take a s--t. Part of the game. F---ing stupid, bro. You’ve got guys at the top of the game taking 20-minute toilet breaks. It’s f---ed. It’s f---ed up.”
He vented at his courtside entourage for wearing masks.
“I can’t hear a word you’re saying,” he yelled at them.
“You’re the only two in here wearing a mask. I’m f---ing looking at you and all I can see is a mask. I can’t understand what you’re saying. Use your brains, bro.”
Halimah Kyrgios was unlucky to be voted off The Voice. She did herself proud. Her brother got what he deserved. The crowd walked out on him before the end.
Earlier, Tsitsipas outlasted Britain’s Murray 2-6 7-6 (9-7) 3-6 6-3 6-4 after four hours and 49 minutes in surroundings more like an intense second-week showdown than a curtain-raiser for the fortnight.
The Greek’s delaying tactics brought a frosty reception at the net after the match.
“I have zero time for that stuff at all and I lost respect for him,” Murray said.
“It’s nonsense. And he knows it, as well.”
Murray said his adrenaline dropped after the long delays.
“It’s not so much leaving the court. It’s the amount of time,” Murray said.
“I spoke to my team before the match about it and said to expect that, prepare for it if things were not going his way.”
Two other Aussies – John Duckworth and John Millman – also bowed out, but Sydney’s Alexei Popyrin beat Radu Albot 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-3.
THE AUSTRALIAN