Nick Kyrgios hits new low after Shanghai antics in listless defeat

Tennis officials are growing distraught about how to deal with Nick Kyrgios, who treats fans and the game with contempt.

Nick Kyrgios was booed during a listless 6-3 6-1 loss at the Shanghai Masters.

Nick Kyrgios could face a fine or a ban after deliberately giving up in a disgraceful display at the Shanghai Rolex Masters yesterday.

The Australian at times bunted his serves like an eight-year-old hitting a ball in a baseball match, once walked to his courtside chair at a changeover before Mischa Zverev’s serve had even bounced on the opposing side of the court, argued with a spectator, was warned for swearing and then casually dismissed the fuss about his behaviour.

Chris Kermode, the ATP president, said that the organisation would look at footage before deciding what to do. “I take this issue very seriously,” he said.

Kyrgios, who reached a career-high world ranking of No 14 this week, lost 6-3, 6-1 in just 48 minutes to his 110th-ranked opponent from Germany. He also waged a heated argument with one enraged spectator, who rightly believed that the fans were not getting their money’s worth (about $50) and received a code-violation warning from Ali Nili, the umpire, for repeatedly yelling f**k.

The question now is what to do with Kyrgios? Is the right course of action to berate the rebellious 21-year-old for his repeated gross unprofessionalism? Should he be fined for bringing his sport into disrepute or pitied as a young man horribly lost and confused in a pressurised situation?

Kyrgios unquestionably did his sport no service at all as he committed one of the most deplorable sins by “tanking”, deliberately offering no kind of resistance. During the match Nili had castigated Kyrgios for not offering sufficient effort and although he publicly reminded the player that he had a professional obligation to compete, the umpire did not take official action, which he could have done according to ATP World Tour rules.

ATP officials are privately growing increasingly distraught about how to deal with Kyrgios, who has been involved in several high-profile controversies, including at Wimbledon last year when he apparently refused to try in protest at receiving a code violation for swearing during his fourth-round defeat by Richard Gasquet. The Australian figures heavily in the ATP’s #NextGen advertising campaign, designed to propel men’s tennis into the 2020s.

He could offer no real explanation for his childlike behaviour. At the start of the tournament he was in with a good chance of making a late run to qualify for next month’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals - the grand finale of the men’s tennis year played annually at the O2 arena in London - having won the most significant and lucrative tournament of his career at the Japan Open in Tokyo last week.

When asked whether competing among the world’s top eight meant anything to him, Kyrgios replied: “I couldn’t care less, to be honest with you.”

And in an effort to explain his actions, he said: “Just took the easy way out tonight and obviously didn’t show up at all. I wasn’t so much frustrated. I’m just tapped out a little bit, I guess.”

Kyrgios’ has won $4.6 million in his career and if there is no fine for his behaviour here he will leave China with another $48,000 after this appalling performance.

Three quarters of the way through the match, Kyrgios’s indolence grew too much for one fan who implored him to, “respect the game, respect the people”. Kyrgios’ reply was a demeaning: “Go home then. I didn’t ask you to come."

A couple of games later, another spectator voiced his disappointment and was offered a place on court before being told that he had experienced “a zero career”.

Kyrgios said that he could not understand the fans’ disenchantment. “I feel like if they knew what they were talking about they’d be on the tennis court and being successful,” he said.

“I don’t owe them anything. It doesn’t affect how I sleep at night. My message to them is: ‘If you don’t like it, I didn’t ask you to come and watch. Just leave. If you’re so good at giving advice and so good at tennis, why aren’t you as good as me? Why aren’t you on the tour?’” Zverev said: “It was definitely a match that I did not expect was going to go that way. It happened to be a little easier than I expected.”

Andy Murray has often acted as something of a guide to Kyrgios on the men’s tour and the pair get along well off court. “We’re not perfect. We all have our flaws and make mistakes,” said the second-seeded Scot, who followed up his tournament win in Beijing with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-2 win over Steve Johnson, of the US, and now plays Frenchman Lucas Pouille.

“Nick will be disappointed. He might say he isn’t and that he’s not bothered, but he will be. Maybe he wasn’t feeling great, but you have to give your best effort even if you’re feeling tired and lacking motivation because you have won a tournament the week before.”

The Times