Nick Kyrgios has been fined more than $8,000 for his mid-match implosion during his second-round French Open encounter with Kevin Anderson. Meanwhile, Borna Coric has been let off completely following his outburst after his match against Steven Johnson.
Kyrgios started the match strong against the big serving Anderson, winning the first set 7-5. The Australian was up early in the second set and was looking likely to progress to the third-round for the third time in his young career. However, being broken back in the eighth game triggered Kyrgios to lose his composure, smashing two rackets in quick concession. Kyrgios never regained his form from the opening set as Anderson went on to serve a monstrous 21 aces in the 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 win. Kyrgios’ actions in the second set earned him a $3,400 fine for racket abuse and a $4,740 fine unsportsmanlike behaviour. Kyrgios has long had the reputation as the “bad boy” in tennis and has seen him accumulate several fines and suspensions over the past years. These past instances of undesired behaviour have obviously been considered when handing the 22-year-old this substantial fine. There have been many occasions of bad behaviour, much worse than Kyrgios’ outburst, that have seen nothing close to the penalty the Australian received.
One of these notable instances occurred just one day prior to the Kyrgios-Anderson match. The match, featured Steve Johnson of USA taking on the up-and-coming Croat, Borna Coric. The tight tussle lasted almost four hours, climaxing in a fourth set tiebreak. The American was leading two sets to one trying to close the match out against the talented Coric. Johnson won four points in succession after being down 4-6 to win the tiebreak 8-6. In what were very emotional scenes, Johnson fell to his knees, crying after his victory. After the match Johnson stated that his father, who had passed just three weeks prior to the tournament, helped him get through the tight match. Meanwhile, on the other side of the net, Coric unleashed his anger on his racket, smashing it repeatedly after the completion of the second-round match. Coric, who is another young rising star on tour, has been labelled a part of the next generations best players along with Nick Kyrgios on multiple occasions. The Croat did not receive any punishment for his racket abuse after the completion of his match. This raises the question as to why two up-and-coming players, who will not doubt be atop the ATP rankings in future years, received such different treatment when their actions were very similar. If the ATP wants to stop this behaviour, why is their punishment not consistent for all players?
Another memorable instance occurred at the 2012 Australian Open. Most tennis fans will remember Marcos Baghdatis destroying four rackets in a row during a change of ends in his match against Stan Wawrinka. This explosion only earned the Cypriot an $800 fine in what is still one of the most well known cases of racket abuse.
Earlier this year, former Junior Wimbledon Singles Champion, Denis Shapovalov, was sanctioned with a $7,000 fine for hitting an umpire in the face with a ball. During the deciding rubber of the Davis Cup tie, Shapovalov smashed a ball in frustration toward umpire, Arnaud Gabas. The ball, unfortunately for Shapovalov, hit Gabas square in the face, resulting in an immediate disqualification and loss in the first round of the Davis Cup for Canada. The Canadian apologised immediately after his actions, which could have caused severe injury as the ball impacted near the eye of Gabas. Even though Shapovalov’s moment of frustration was much more dangerous than Kyrgios’, the Australian still managed to acquire a larger fine for his offences.
The instances highlighted above are all comparable, if not worse than Kyrgios’ actions, so why does the ATP feel the need to discipline the Australian so severely?
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