Nick Kyrgios Given Pep Talk By US Open Umpire Layhani In Victory Over Herbert - UBITENNIS

Nick Kyrgios Given Pep Talk By US Open Umpire Layhani In Victory Over Herbert

Nick Kyrgios received a pep talk from US Open umpire Mohamed Layhani during his win over Pierre-Hughes Herbert.

By Tony Fairbairn
2 Min Read

Nick Kyrgios was given a bizarre pep talk by US Open umpire, Mohamed Layhani as he defeated Pierre-Hughes Herbert 4-6 7-6(6) 6-3 6-0 to make the third round. 

The Aussie was thinking about giving up when he complained about a wrist injury and saw the trainer a couple of times. The 30th seed needed a miraculous turn of events to beat the Frenchman as he looked well on his way to a second round exit in New York.

So enter US Open umpire, Mohamed Layhani to play his part in the match. The Swedish umpire had enough of Kyrgios’ antics so instead of giving him a code violation warning, he took matters into his own hands. In an extraordinary turn of events Layhani got off his chair and had a motivational talk with the Australian, which you can see below:

After that pep talk at 6-4 3-0 down, the Australian turned the match winning 19 of the next 25 games to take the match and book his place into the last 32 of the US Open. To add salt into the wound, Herbert then received a code violation of his own for ball abuse. 

The USTA have since revealed that they will be investigating the matter as one of the most bizarre things in Tennis history took place. It will be interesting to see what Herbert has to say about all of this as he would be most hurt by all of this as Layhani effectively cost him the match.

However Layhani has previous with incidents like this as back in 2016 he was heard given a pep talk to Bernard Tomic in Sydney:

It will be now interesting to see what happens next and what action the USTA will take should they take any. 

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