Nick Kyrgios is under fire again, this time for his treatment of a ball boy at the French Open.
Kyrgios was playing Marco Cecchinato yesterday when he asked the ball boy for a sweat towel. When his request was not speedily granted, he raised his voice, shouting and gesturing aggressively.
The umpire was unimpressed with Kyrgios’s behaviour, slapping him with a code violation, causing the tennis bad boy to melt down even further.
“Bulls—, f—king bulls—,” Kyrgios shouted at the umpire. “A code violation for saying ‘towel’ loud? Now I’ve really seen it all.
“So I go “towel” louder than usual and you gonna give me an unsportsmanlike? Really? What rules am I breaking? That’s bulls—. Are you kidding? How can you sit there and give me a code for that?”
Kyrgios eventually calmed down and won the match but his behaviour has left a bad taste in the mouths of Australian tennis fans, and possibly put Kyrgios’ Olympic selection into doubt.
After the game, he denied being disrespectful to the ball boy, insisting he always treats ball boys and girls well.
“Every time I get a towel from a ball kid, I say thank you,” he said. “Sometimes when you’re a bit frustrated you do … obviously, you know, not scream at them, but you do get a little mad at them.
“For me [on Sunday], I didn’t get mad at all. I just said it a little bit loud. The crowd was going on [and] I’m not going to wait for the crowd to quieten down to get my towel. I just felt like it was a bit rough.”
