The “bad boy of tennis,” Nick Kyrgios, returned to action today for his match against Serb Filip Krajinovi in the second round, and they quickly got into a fight over a line call.
The Australian, 27, who is playing on Court 2 after being barred from Center Court for spitting at a spectator on Tuesday, has a set lead over the Ser and has had a commanding start to the match.
Although Kyrgios has so far maintained a calm demeanor, he did have a brief tantrum when Krajinovic attempted to contest a ruling on the tram lines after the umpire had called time.
You cannot dispute that, he exclaimed.
After an unusual first round match in which he spat at a spectator and yelled profanities at line judges, Kyrgios drew criticism.
During his victory over British player Paul Jubb on Tuesday, he called one of them “a snitch with no followers” for exposing his shenanigans and said another “can’t see the ball.”
He has not yet received punished for the event, but News Corp stated that he will pay a hefty fine and be sent to the All England Club’s outside courts.
After the match, the Australian tennis player caused more controversy by eating sushi in front of the media, which many tennis fans felt was disrespectful.
‘You are disrespectful for eating whilst being interviewed; you need to get some respect,’ one said.
‘Nick Kyrgios saying he doesn’t want people to disrespect him whilst spitting at people, calling line judges ‘old man’ and then sitting through a press conference eating,’ wrote another.
The 2022 Australian Open doubles champion said he spat towards a spectator who was disrespecting him and hurling unnecessary abuse at the player.
‘Just pure disrespect, just anything. Someone just yelled out I was s**t in the crowd today. Is that normal? No. I just don’t understand why it’s happening over and over again,’ Kyrgios said.
‘Have you ever gone to a supermarket and just started berating someone scanning the groceries? No. So why do they do it when I’m at Wimbledon? Why is that?’