Federer fumes over umpire's Kyrgios coaching

Roger Federer has declared chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani was out of line for offering Nick Kyrgios a mid-match pep talk at the US Open.

Lahyani is under fire for his controversial intervention after Kyrgios rallied from a set and a service break down to pull off a drama-charged 4-6 7-5 6-3 6-0 comeback win over Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

Kyrgios was trailing 3-0 in the second set, having thrown away the first on a wild second-serve double-fault, when Lahyani left his chair to beg the enigmatic star to start trying for the sake of the paying crowd and to avoid being sanctioned – again – for not giving his best effort.

“I want to help you. I want to help you,” Lahyani said.

“I’ve seen your matches: you’re great for tennis. Nick, I know this is not you.”

Seeking some sort of physical treatment, Kyrgios said: “Okay, “Just call the trainer to the court and I’ll try.”

But when the trainer arrived and asked what Kyrgios needed treatment for, the Australian said: “I don’t know, check my wrist or something … Can you just stay out here for like two minutes?”

The umpire’s controversial “coaching” was savaged on social media, with fans furious about his perceived bias towards Kyrgios and claiming it was unfair on Herbert.

Kyrgios’s win set up a third-round clash with Federer, who weighed in on the controversy after defeating his own French opponent Benoit Paire.

“It’s not the umpire’s role to go down from the chair, but I get what he was trying to do,” the world No.2 said.

“He behaves the way he behaves. You as an umpire take a decision on the chair, do you like it or don’t you like it. But you don’t go and speak like that, in my opinion.

“I don’t know what he said. I don’t care what he said. It was not just about ‘how are you feeling? Oh, I’m not feeling so well’.

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“Go back up to the chair. He was there for too long. It’s a conversation. Conversations can change your mindset. It can be a physio, a doctor, an umpire for that matter.

“That’s why it won’t happen again. I think everybody knows that.”

Kyrgios insisted Lahyani’s talking to wasn’t the spark for his fightback and said he’d be upset if the respected official was sanctioned in any way.

“It’s happened in Shanghai before when we all know I had that moment in Shanghai where the referee said the same thing: ‘It’s not good for the integrity of the sport, doesn’t have a good look’,” Kyrgios said.

“It happens in other sports, too. In soccer, if someone is being roughed, they get warned: ‘If you keep doing this, you get penalised’. Same sort of thing.

“It had no effect at all. I was 3-love down, (then) 5-2 down. Obviously, didn’t help at all.”

The USTA’s initial statement on the incident appeared to misread the situation, but the organisation later confirmed an investigation with key officials was underway.

In his own statement released in the hours after the match, Herbert absolved Kyrgios of any blame despite acknowledging his Australian opponent’s increased focus after the conversation.

“First of all I did not hear the discussion between Lahyani and Nick and it did not affect me at all. Nick from his side is not to blame as he did not ask for anything,” he said.

“But his behaviour and motivation on court changed from this moment and then he dominated the match. On the other hand after seeing the video I am angry against the umpire. He should not go down off his chair and try to reason (with) Nick. Did this action affect the game? We will never know…”

Herbert criticised the USTA’s response and called on the umpire, who has attempted to motivate other players in the past in similar fashion, to be sanctioned.

“I am even more upset against the statement of the USTA that is clearly taking us for fools,” he said.

“We all hear on the video what the umpire said to Nick overpassing his actions. (Everyone) is human but I still wait for explanations. When we players are making mistakes on court we are sanctioned.”

American tennis great Andy Roddick and former Australian umpire and one-time head of ASADA Richard Ings even weighed in.

“I am racking my brain to think of a situation requiring a chair umpire to speak like that to one player. I umpired thousands of matches. I was ATP head of officiating. I can’t think of one,” Ings tweeted.

Kyrgios certainly hauled himself back into the contest after Lahyani’s approach, having looked utterly disinterested in the early stages.

Yawning one second, Kyrgios delivered a return winner the next to break Herbert to get back on serve at 4-5 in the second before clinching the tiebreaker to draw level.

Totally revitalised, Kyrgios dropped just three games in the last two sets, sealing victory after two hours and 47 minutes.

Federer and Kyrgios will face off in a Saturday night showstopper on Arthur Ashe Stadium – the biggest stage in world tennis – and the Australian is already looking forward to it.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Kyrgios said.

“I definitely know that I won’t be the favourite, the crowd favourite here.

“I go into that match with zero expectation. I do believe I can beat him. I have done it before.”