Kyrgios may be punished for a ‘major offence’ after ‘corrupt’ comment
NEW YORK — Top tennis officials are considering whether to punish Nick Kyrgios for a “major offence” after he called the men’s tennis tour “corrupt.”
Kyrgios spoke out because he was fined more than $100,000 for his behaviour in a match last month. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) 2019 rule book says a “major offence” may be punished by a fine of up to the amount of prize money won at a tournament and a suspension of up to a year.
A statement issued Wednesday said Gayle Bradshaw, ATP executive vice-president for rules and competition, would determine what to do about Kyrgios’ comments made at the U.S. Open.
About a half-hour after the statement, Kyrgios sent out a tweet “to clarify my comment around the ATP being corrupt.”
The tweet said “it was not the correct choice of words” and the “intention was to address what I see as double standards rather than corruption.”
Speaking to a small group of reporters after his straight-set victory over Steve Johnson in the first round at Flushing Meadows ended after 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Kyrgios was asked about whether the recent fine affected him mentally as the year’s last Grand Slam tournament began.
“Not at all. ATP’s pretty corrupt, anyway, so I’m not fussed about it at all,” Kyrgios said.
It is the latest in a list of clashes with tennis authorities for the 24-year-old Australian, who is seeded 28th at the U.S. Open.
He was defaulted from a match at the Italian Open in May after throwing a chair during a match and was suspended by the ATP in 2016 for not trying to win and insulting fans during the Shanghai Masters.
At the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati this month, Kyrgios insulted a chair umpire and left the court to smash two rackets during a second-round loss.
The next day, the ATP listed a breakdown of eight fines ranging from $3,000 to $20,000 each, for violations such as unsportsmanlike conduct, verbal abuse and audible obscenity, with the total penalty reaching $113,000.
In the wee hours of Wednesday, when a followup question was asked about his “corrupt” comment, Kyrgios said: “Why are we talking about something that happened three weeks ago?”
More than 10 hours later, in a tweet, Kyrgios wrote: “I know my behaviour at times has been controversial and that has landed me in trouble, which at times is granted and valid but my issue is around others ... doing the same or similar behaviour and not being sanctioned.”
He added: “I know I’m not perfect and do not pretend to be and I acknowledge I’ve deserved fines and sanctioning at times but I expect consistency and fairness with this across the board (and) to date that’s not happened.”