ATP fines, launches probe of Kyrgios over Wawrinka sex slur

ATP fines, launches probe of Kyrgios over Wawrinka sex slur

PTIUpdated: Friday, May 31, 2019, 11:20 PM IST
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Montreal: The ATP fined Nick Kyrgios a total of USD 12,500 and said it had launched an investigation into an insulting comment he made during a Rogers Cup tennis match against French Open champion Stan Wawrinka.

The 20-year-old Kyrgios was fined USD 10,000 earlier yesterday for an obscene sexual remark he made on the court in Wednesday’s second round. The Tour said it was also fining him an additional USD 2,500 for another comment he made to a ball person. “Following a review of video from the match the ATP has also issued an additional fine of USD 2,500 for unsportsmanlike conduct related to a comment he made to a ball person during the match,” the ATP said in a news release last night.

“In addition, Kyrgios has been served with a ‘notice of investigation’ which begins a process to determine if his actions also constitute a violation of the Player Major Offence provisions.” The ATP said the probe could result in further sanctions against Kyrgios. Following a 7-5 6-3 loss to John Isner yesterday, Kyrgios said that he personally apologized to Wawrinka in the players area at Uniprix Stadium and now wants to put the matter behind him but the ATP seems to have other plans.

Obviously he saw me in the corridor yesterday,” Kyrgios said of Wawrinka after his loss to Isner. “He came up to me, as you know he would. I wasn’t surprised. I told him I was sorry. Obviously he was angry, so I just had to deal with it. Hopefully we can just put it behind. It’s all cleared now. I apologised in public and privately as well.”On-court microphones picked up the Australian’s scurrilous sexual remark about Wawrinka’s girlfriend during a changeover in their match won by Kyrgios when Wawrinka retired with back pain trailing 4-0 in the third set.

Kyrgios said that the woman had been involved with his close friend Thanasi Kokkinakis. “Sorry to tell you that mate,” Kyrgios is heard to say. An angry Wawrinka had demanded action by tennis authorities over the “beyond belief” comments. Wawrinka, who separated from his wife earlier this year and has been linked to Croatian tour player Donna Vekic, said the ATP should take “major action this time”. Kyrgios hopes the incident won’t dog him as he now travels to Cincinnati for next week’s pre-US Open event. “I’ve been fined. So everything is sort of put to bed now. I thought we could move on from it,” said the world number 41.

Kyrgios’ insult rocked the sport and the criticism has come from all directions, including world number one Novak Djokovic. Top seed and three-time winner Djokovic racked up his 50th win of 2015 to reach the quarter-finals, scoring his 28th consecutive victory at the Masters level by seeing off Jack Sock of the United States 6-2 6-1. The Serb then commented on the Kyrgios incident. “He was fined, he deserved it,” said Djokovic. “I think he’s going to learn a lesson in a hard way. Hopefully this won’t happen to him anymore. I understand that every player goes through certain tantrums, emotional ups and downs during the match. In a big fight and at this level, I understand.

But… there’s no excuse of directing your tantrums to your opponent, especially to somebody that is not even there.” Djokovic said that Kyrgios, fast earning a reputation as the sport’s talented brat, remains one of the potential future stars of tennis. He’s young, he’s definitely one of the players that everybody’s looking to,” Djokovic said. Second seed Andy Murray, who is chasing a third title in Canada, also took his season’s win tally to 50 with a smooth 6-3 6-2 triumph over Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller. Murray, the 2009 and 2010 champion, will face defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Australian Bernard Tomic in the quarter-finals. The Scot took a softer line to Kyrgios than Djokovic. The most important thing is that he learns from what happened yesterday,” Murray said.

There’s obviously certain things in tennis, in our sport. In other sports that sort of thing happens more often than we imagine, in a lot of team sports especially. In tennis there are certain things you shouldn’t do. That was probably one of them.” Isner will play Frenchman Jeremy Chardy who overcame Ivo Karlovic 4-6 7-6 (7/1) 6-4 after the Croatian had passed the 10,000-ace career mark during his win in the previous round. Djokovic next faces Ernests Gulbis, who beat Donald Young 6-4 6-4.

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