Nick Kyrgios has said he needs a break from tennis after losing in the third round of the US Open on Saturday night. The Australian was heard complaining “I don’t even want to be here. I just want to go home,” during his straight sets defeat to unseeded Russian Andrey Rublev.
Kyrgios, who has had repeated clashes with officials on the ATP Tour in recent weeks, said after the match that he needed to get away from the sport. “I guess I’ve been on the road five and a half months now. It’s not easy,” before being asked if that meant he would welcome a suspension after a turbulent month. “I don’t know if I look at it like that,” he said. “I don’t know. I have no say in it. I guess it’s out of my control.”
The 24-year-old faces potential bans of up to 12 months for the two “major offences” – calling Irish umpire Fergus Murphy a “potato” and “fucking tool”, and spitting in his direction in Cincinnati last month. He subsequently accused the ATP of being “pretty corrupt” after they fined him $113,000.
At the US Open last week he found himself in hot water again about a motto on his collar and criticised a TV commentator – only to be interviewed by him hours later, before Saturday night’s match.
Asked how he thought officials should deal with him, Kyrgios said sarcastically: “I guess I’m a pretty boring player. I don’t bring much to the sport, so ...”
Kyrgios will turn his attention to his second-round doubles match on Sunday with Romania’s Marius Copil before contemplating a break – enforced or otherwise – after leading Team World against Team Europe at the third edition of the Laver Cup later this month in Geneva.
Elsewhere at the year’s final grand slam Alexei Popyrin went down in four sets to 24th seed Matteo Berrettini, leaving Alex de Minaur the sole surviving Australian in the men’s singles draw.
