Nick Kyrgios has Miami Open meltdown, loses to Jannik Sinner, later blasts umpire, ATP
Nick Kyrgios, the Australian star known for his entertaining tennis and temper tantrums, had a meltdown at the Miami Open during a fourth-round loss to Jannik Sinner on Tuesday. Later, during his press conference, he blasted the chair umpire for his “dreadful, horrendous” job and claimed the ATP doesn’t stand up for its players.
Kyrgios imploded during the 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 loss while his Italian opponent kept his cool to earn a spot in the quarterfinals. Kyrgios muttered repeatedly and got into a verbal battle with umpire Carlos Bernardes during a close first set, then lost the tie-break after being docked a point and then double-faulting.
The world No. 102 was docked a game for smashing his racket again early in the second set – then posed for a selfie with a fan who ran onto the court.
Kyrgios had clashed with Bernardes before, most recently a few weeks ago during his loss to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals at Indian Wells. The 26-year-old Australian said last week that he was “at peace”, but he repeatedly lost his cool on Tuesday.
Asked to explain what happened, Kyrgios replied: “I got frustrated. Can I not get frustrated? Do you get frustrated? Next question.”
He proceeded to slam Bernardes.
“I just don’t think he controls the crowd well at all, in my personal opinion, I just don’t think my point penalty was worth a point penalty,’’’ he said. “Literally, all I said to my team was I thought Matthew Reid, an ex-tennis player, could do just as good a job in the umpire’s chair. And if that’s worth a point penalty at 5-3 in the first-set tiebreak in the fourth round of Miami, a Masters event for hundreds of thousands of dollars, then you decide. But I think it’s ridiculous.”
During the 3-2 first-set changeover, he criticized the speed of the Grandstand court, saying it was much slower than the Stadium court, where he won the first few rounds.
“It’s completely different,” Kyrgios complained. “You think anyone is going tell the players that it’s completely different before the event starts or ‘Hey guys, just to let you know, center court is completely different to the Grandstand for some odd reason’. May as well be grass and clay. What a joke.”
He vented again when Bernardes’ walkie-talkie went off while Skinner was serving at 4-4.
“Unbelievable!” he screamed as he sat down in his chair. “It’s the fourth round at Miami - one of the biggest tournaments – and you guys can’t do your jobs. It’s embarrassing!”
“He should be fired on the spot. Get a new set of referees, these guys don’t know how to do s---. It’s a joke. Get rid of every single staff and start over. Everything. I will run the sport. I could do 100 times a better job. Marketing. Everything. You guys have no idea. None. You guys can’t even ref right.”
Kyrgios proceeded to mangle his racquet, resulting in another code of conduct penalty that cost him the opening game of the second set. Sinner held serve to take 2-0 lead and Kyrgios said loudly to fans: “Anyone come here to see this ref?”
At 1-3, 40-0 a fan told Bernardes to shut up and Kyrgios led applause by clapping on his racket.
“When everyone in that crowd is booing an umpire and he’s becoming the center of attention, that’s not his job because no one in that entire stadium bought a ticket to hear him talk,” Kyrgios said. “You’ve got Yannik Sinner, one of our greatest stars who’s going to do great things, and myself, don’t mean to toot my own horn but the majority of the people are there to see me play and you’ve got a guy talking – I’m 40-love up and he’s talking and I’m like `What are you doing?’ The crowd hated him that much they told him to be quiet, and he’s disrupting my service game. I’ve never been a part of a match where an umpire was hated that much.”
Kyrgios ended the day on a positive note with a 7-5, 6-2 doubles win with partner and countryman Thanasi Kokkinakis over Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.
Asked if he fears further repercussions, such as a fine, for his outburst, Kyrgios complained that the ATP treats him unfairly.
“(Denis) Shapovalov nailed a ball in someone’s eyeball and got 5 grand. I threw a racket, didn’t even hit anyone, and got 25 grand. Where is balance? How much do I bring the sport? That’s the problem with tennis. We don’t protect our stars. We love to outcast them. ATP never defends its players, stands up for them. I’ve been used to it my whole career. It sucks.”
Among the favorites who advanced Tuesday: No. 1 seed Daniil Medvedev, No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev, and No. 4 Casper Ruud. Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina beat American Frances Tiafoe 6-7(7-2), 7-6(7-3), 6-2. In the night matches, Naomi Osaka cruised 6-2, 6-1 against Danielle Collins, who has a lingering neck injury stemming from a virus.
The biggest crowd of the night showed up at Grandstand to see No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas against 18-year-old Spanish phenom Carlos Alcaraz, who is already drawing comparisons to Rafael Nadal. Alcaraz, the No. 14 seed, won 7-5, 6-3 and pumped his fists and roared “Vamos!” He will play the winner of the Taylor Fritz-Miomir Kecmanovic match.
Miami Herald correspondent Harvey Fialkov contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 29, 2022 at 7:44 PM.