Kyrgios admits 'tanking' before pulling off crazy victory
Nick Kyrgios has produced one of the strangest victories of his career after appearing to completely give up halfway through.
The young Aussie moved into the Round of 16 at the Cincinnati Open on Thursday (AEST) with a 7-6 (1), 0-6, 6-3 win over Croatian youngster Borna Coric.
And one word sums up the bizarre match perfectly: rollercoaster.
The No.15 seed was pushed to a tiebreaker in the first set but overcame the Croatian 7-1 to strike the early blow in the match.
But Kyrgios was clearly struggling with his oft-injured knees, and went into meltdown mode during the second set.
It quickly went pear-shaped for the temperamental Australian who lost his cool and composure in the second set before surrendering 6-0.
Trailing 0-3, Kyrgios was left fuming by a line call that he (and the crowd) disagreed with, reportedly telling his box he was about to ‘tank’ the rest of the set.
According to Egyptian journalist Reem Abulleil: “Kyrgios is so p***ed, tells his team he doesn’t wanna play if he gets cheated by an umpire. You’ll never see a bigger tank than the next 3 games,” she tweeted.
Kyrgios then fired a ball into the crowd and earned a point penalty for his troubles.
Coric ball called in. Kyrgios points to a mark insists it's out. Asks umpire to look at the mark. Rallies the crowd behind him who start chanting "out, out". Kyrgios mimes eyeglasses to the umpire implying he can't see. Then tosses ball that flies into centre court. Point penalty
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) August 16, 2018
At 0-5, a spectator called for the Aussie to lift, to which he quipped: “It’s 5-0 mate.”
Crowd member at 0-5 in 2nd set: "Dig in Nick!"
Nick Kyrgios: "It's 5 to zero mate"This is all so glorious.
— Doug Collins (@dc_loves_tennis) August 16, 2018
He then reportedly started walking to his chair before Coric had even hit the shot that sealed the 6-0 second set.
On set point, Kyrgios started walking to his chair even before Coric had hit the final shot to win it. And that sums up the set perfectly. Going three. #CincyTennis
— Nikhila (@kokudum) August 16, 2018
But in an incredible show of resiliency, Kyrgios regained his composure and got on with the job.
In the past the young Aussie probably would have lost the third set as well, but he managed to regroup and get back to his best, winning the match 6-3 in the third.
The bizarre but entertaining encounter had many fans calling it the best match they’d ever seen.
Kyrgios repeatedly let his frustrations with Coric known to those in attendance, sick of being made to wait by his opponent before serving, and wanting Coric to hurry his own service games up.
At one stage he suggested he was bored with waiting for Coric and would much rather be chowing down on a Big Mac.
Nick Kyrgios, bored, injured, and dying for a Big Mac and large fries, curb stomps Borna Coric in the first set tiebreaker 7-1. McDonald's is open 24 hours here my friend…
— Doug Collins (@dc_loves_tennis) August 16, 2018
Nick Kyrgios impatiently waiting on the line to receive from Coric: "When I'm at a restaurant and I'm hungry, I want to waiter to bring my food right now" 😂😂😂
— Doug Collins (@dc_loves_tennis) August 16, 2018
Nick Kyrgios apparently bleeding the the shot clock in all likelihood as a homage to Coric's slower serving pace and realizing he's used up 20 seconds (a true rarity) : "5 seconds"
— Doug Collins (@dc_loves_tennis) August 16, 2018
People behind me after Kyrgios wins: "That was the best match I've ever seen".. It wasn't pretty, but man it was great for all the wrong reasons.
— Doug Collins (@dc_loves_tennis) August 16, 2018
When Nick Kyrgios got it together he had too much weaponry for Borna Coric. Had a 2nd set walkabout, but one game of pure magic changed teh face of the 3rd set and he served his way out in style. Kyrgios through to R3. #atp
— Jake Davies (@jakedavi5) August 16, 2018
Reading @dc_loves_tennis tweets from the Coric-Kyrgios match and laughing and shaking my head at the same time. 😂😂
— LaWanda (@lawanda50) August 16, 2018