It’s been a long time since there was a “bad boy of tennis,” but Australia’s Nick Kyrgios seems to be wearing the crown — intentional or not. The 21-year-old was booed off the court during a Shanghai Masters game in which he never looked interested in playing at all. At times he toyed with his second-round opponent, before throwing the match and telling the umpire “can you call time so I can finish this match and go home?”
Nick Kyrgios got booed off the court in Shanghai after throwing a match
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
The call to end the match came after umpire Ali Nili said to Kyrgios:
“Nick, you can’t play like that. It’s just not professional. This is a professional tournament.”
Kyrgios, hot off winning the Japan Open, has been playing some of the best tennis of his career, but the world No. 12 was completely disinterested in playing in Shanghai, much to the anger of fans who paid to watch him play.
Down 5-2 in the first set, Kyrgios seemed more interested in practicing his trick shots that trying to win the game. He took the point, but this came after he appealed to the umpire to end things early.
Later in the match things got worse. Kyrgios stopped attempting to return serves. He just wanted the match to be over.
Things went from bizarre to surreal when a spectator yelled at Kyrgios mid-match, and the pair got into an argument. With his opponent serving on match point the Australian yelled at the fan:
“You wanna come here and play? Sit down and shut up and watch.”
This isn’t the first time Kyrgios has been the center of controversy. Earlier in the week he was criticized for saying he was “bored” during a first-round win over Sam Querry. In 2015, he had a trio of moments that saw him tank during his Wimbledon match vs. Richard Gasquet, screaming “I don’t want to be here” during the David Cup quarterfinal and picking up a microphone during the 2015 Montreal Masters to tell world No. 3 Stan Wawrinka that his girlfriend had slept with an Australian tennis pro.
It’s unclear what prompted the latest rounds of outbursts from Kyrgios, but his explanation on Twitter was short.
(h/t Daily Mail)
