NEW YORK _ Who needs cheerleaders when you have umpires like Mohamed Lahyani?
It was another bizarre chapter Thursday in the career of Nick Kyrgios, who was playing on-brand, spaced-out and lackadaisical when Lahyani stepped down from the umpire chair to give him an animated pep talk.
The enigmatic Kyrgios had dropped the first set and was trailing 3-0 in the second when Lahyani transformed into his coach. Kyrgios almost immediately flipped a switch and, over an hour later, he left Court 17 with a 4-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory over Pierre-Hugues Herbert, setting up a fourth-round matchup against Roger Federer.
Among the unbelievable things Lahyani reportedly told Kyrgios:
_ "I want to help you."
_ "I've seen your matches, you're great for tennis."
_ "I know this is not you."
Herbert was justifiably upset and said Kyrgios' game and attitude changed after the pep talk.
"I don't know what to think. I don't know if something would've changed if Mohamed didn't say anything to him. I cannot tell you. I just can tell you from that point Nick was playing much better," Herbert said. "Actually, the umpire doesn't have to talk to him at all. The only thing he can tell him is, 'Yeah, pay attention, because if you continue like this, I'm going to give you a warning,' something like that.
"They can tell him from the chair. He doesn't need to go down. He doesn't need to say the words he said. I think this was not his job. I don't think he's a coach, he's an umpire, and he should stay on his chair for that."
Although many in the media were calling for punishment of Lahyani _ including John McEnroe suggesting a suspension on ESPN _ Tournament Referee Brian Earley excused the actions of the veteran umpire from Sweden.
"He left his chair to check on the condition of Nick Kyrgios," Earley said in a statement. "He came out of the chair because of the noise level in the Stadium during the changeover to make sure he could communicate effectively.
"Lahyani was concerned that Kyrgios might need medical attention."
Herbert had a different theory, saying the umpire wanted to jolt Kyrgios' performance to appease the fans.
"(Lahyani) cares for the show also because people were leaving after the first set. Everybody was there for the start. When they saw Nick in a bad mood, I would say, for the first two sets, they started going away," Herbert said. "I think like everybody, I think Nick today could be an amazing player. Just sometimes he's mentally, yeah, not here. I don't know where he was for the first two sets. I know he was on court after when he started playing, when he kicked my ass and was much better than me."
For his part, Kyrgios claimed Lahyani had no effect on his mood or game.
"I'm not sure it was encouragement," he said. "He said he liked me. I'm not sure if that was encouragement. He just said that it's not a good look (for me to be playing so poorly).
"Look. I wasn't feeling good. I know what I was doing out there wasn't good. I wasn't really listening to him, but I knew it wasn't a good look. It didn't help me at all."
