Sport US Open
Australian admits choice
of words was ‘not correct’
Hundred players sign
prize-money petition
Flashpoint: Nick
Kyrgios won his
match against
Steve Johnson,
but not before a
run-in with the
umpire and playerBy Simon Briggs
TENNIS CORRESPONDENT
at Flushing Meadows
Tennis’s king of controversy, Nick
Kyrgios, could be facing a suspen-
sion after he accused the ATP Tour
of corruption. This was the latest in
a series of Kyrgios flashpoints this
season – the only difference being
that it took place in the interview
room rather than on the court.
The story began at around 2am
on Tuesday night, after Kyrgios had
delivered an impressively slick
first-round victory over Steve
Johnson, of the United States.
When a reporter asked him for
his response to the $113,000
(£92,450) fine that he had received
for his abusive behaviour towards
umpire Fergus Murphy in Cincin-
nati, Kyrgios replied: “The ATP is
pretty corrupt anyway. I’m not
fussed about it at all.”
The comment was in clear breach
of the ATP’s rule book, which states
that no player should “unreasona-
bly attack or disparage any person
or group of people”, and the tour
responded yesterday by opening an
investigation. Soon afterwards,
Kyrgios posted a statement on so-
cial media, in the hope of heading
off what could be a lengthy ban. “It
was not the correct choice of words
and my point and intention was to
address what I see as double stand-
ards rather than corruption,” Kyr-
gios wrote. “I know my behaviour
at times has been controversial and
that has landed me in trouble,
which at times is granted and valid
but my issue is around others ... do-
ing the same or similar behaviour
and not being sanctioned.”
Kyrgios’s conduct on court was
relatively serene by his own recent
standards, as he ousted Johnson
6-3, 7-6, 6-4. But he still earned a
code violation from the British um-
pire James Keothavong after an ar-
gument that started when he was
distracted by a spectator moving in
the stands in the middle of a game.
The warning came under the
heading of “audible obscenity”, and
when Kyrgios kept arguing at the
next change of ends, an impatient
Johnson asked him “Do you want to
play f------ tennis or host a s---
show?” At the end of the match, the
handshake was chilly in the
extreme. Johnson made only the
swiftest of contact and did not look
at Kyrgios at all.
Kyrgios has become increasingly
volatile in his conversations with
umpires this season. He was dis-
qualified in Rome after throwing a
chair on to the court, and seems to
have reached the stage where such
angry disputes are habitual. It only
takes one disagreement or distrac-
tion to set him off.
In theory, such repeated inci-
dents could have earned Kyrgios a‘My
point
was to
address
what I
see as a
double
standard’
ban on the grounds of a consistent
“pattern of behaviour”. But the ATP
is a commercial body as well, and
most tournament directors are des-
perate to put his name on their or-
der of play. Among younger fans, in
particular, he is the biggest draw.
Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph
has seen the legal letter handed
around by a faction of the ATP
player council at Friday’s open
meeting. In his press conference on
Tuesday night, Vasek Pospisil – who
is the figurehead for this latest(^) attempt to increase prize money –
was asked to confirm reports that
he had gathered a hundred signa-
tures from his fellow players.
“Pretty informed,” he replied with a
smile.
The document is headed “Letter
of engagement” and it requests
Norton Rose Fulbright – the second
largest law firm in the United States
- to negotiate with the grand-slam
tournaments and the International
Tennis Federation.
This latest move to rack up the
Kyrgios faces a
ban for calling
Tour chiefs
‘pretty corrupt’
10 ** Thursday 29 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws