Nick Kyrgios has been caught up in more controversy following a heated argument with the match umpire,Damien Dumusois, during his straight sets loss to Albert Ramos in the second round of the BNP Paribas Masters in Indian Wells.
During the early part of the second set, the world No.27 received a point penalty after one of the linesmen reported to the umpire that Kyrgios said a swear word. Prior to that incident, Kyrgios received a warning for hitting a ball out of the court. The deduction came a crucial moment with Kyrgios having a double chance to break for a 3-2 lead. He failed to break following the violation, resulting in a heated discussion with Dumusois.
There are doubts concerning weather Kyrgios said the f-word at the time when the linesman reported him. Veteran tennis reporter, Craig Gabriel, jumped to the defense of the young tennis player. Gabriel attended Kyrgios’ match in Indian Wells and insisted that he did not say a swear word.
“I think he was hard done by. I genuinely mean that,” Gabriel told sen.com.au.
“He was wandering around in the corner of the court muttering. He did not say anything. The linesperson thought they had heard something and went and reported it to the chair umpire.
The incident is the latest of a series for the controversy-stricken Kyrgios. Last year he made headlines around the world after being caught on saying saying ‘Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend’ during his match against Stan Wawrinka at the Canadian Masters. The comment sparked a hefty fine for the Australian as well as a six-month suspended sentence.
More recently at the Davis Cup, teammate Bernard Tomic accused the 20-year-old of faking his illness to avoid his country’s tie against the USA. Kyrgios reluctantly spoke about Tomic’s comments during his post-match press conference.
“I’m just a bit disappointed.” Kyrgios said.
“We haven’t really talked about it, but I’m not, you know really going to say too much about it.
“He’s a great guy and a great player.”
The world No.27 also told media that he is still recovering from illness and admitted that he ‘isn’t where he liked to be‘ in terms of his current form. The next tournament for the fiery Australian will be the Miami Masters, which will start in just over a week’s time.
