Kyrgios reignites Nadal feud with outrageous social media post
Nick Kyrgios has taken an extraordinary approach to try and explain part of his epic Cincinnati Masters meltdown.
The temperamental Australian swore at Fergus Murphy and called him the worst umpire in the game during a second-round defeat against Karen Khachanov, less than a fortnight after winning the Citi Open in Washington.
Kyrgios also smashed two rackets in an off-court outburst as he lost his cool in Cincinnati on Wednesday, the unruly behaviour costing him fines amounting to a record $166,000.
The 24-year-old has a history with umpire Murphy and an early running battle with the Irishman in Cincinnati kicked off after Kyrgios was pinged for taking too long between serves.
Kyrgios scoffed at the decision, before dragging his old nemesis Rafael Nadal into the argument.
The Aussie insisted that he would retire from tennis if the umpire could find an example of Nadal going as fast as Kyrgios between serves.
To prove his point, Kyrgios has uploaded a clip to social media showing his serve next to Nadal's.
The split-screen footage is accompanied by a timer, with Kyrgios just coming in under the allotted 30 seconds, while Nadal takes more than 40 seconds to send down his serve.
Clearly still incensed by a match that saw Kyrgios slapped with a record ATP fine, the Aussie could yet face a ban in the wake of his extraordinary blow-ups.
Ban could follow Kyrgios’ record fine
The $US113,000 fine is the largest total fine since 1990, the start of the ATP World Tour’s official record books, according to Tennis.com.
The fines included five charges of unsportsmanlike conduct totalling $US85,000, $US20,000 for verbal abuse, $US5,000 for audible obscenity and $US3,000 for leaving the court without permission.
The ATP said they are further investigating whether a suspension is warranted.
"The ATP is looking further into what happened during and immediately after the match to see if additional action is warranted under the Player Major Offense section of the code. That could result in an additional fine and/or suspension," the game's governing body said.
Kyrgios had clashed with Murphy two weeks ago at the Washington Open and was also fined by the ATP after being embroiled in an expletive-ridden rant with Murphy at the Queen's Club Wimbledon warm-up tournament in June.
Andy Murray scolds his friend Kyrgios
Good friend Andy Murray condemned Kyrgios' latest costly meltdown and hopes the Aussie can "figure it out".
Murray said the world number 27 was out of order and hopes he can change his ways.
The Briton told BBC Sport: "It wasn't good, and I felt for Fergus as he shouldn't have to put up with that.
"I chatted to [Kyrgios] a little bit [on Wednesday] night after the match.
"It's obviously up to him, and I think for the most part a couple of weeks ago in Washington, he did a good job of helping himself and using the crowd.
"But obviously this week, he went back to what he was doing before. You just hope he will figure it out, because a week like in Washington is really good for tennis, but [Wednesday] night isn't.
"Hopefully he gets it figured out."
With agencies
