Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios was fined a total of $35,000 for four offenses based on his Tuesday match at the Miami Open against Jannik Sinner.
Kyrgios is known for getting heated on the court. This time, he was fined $20,000 for verbal abuse, $5,000 for audible obscenity and two separate $5,000 fines for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The match on Tuesday was a mess for Kyrgios from the get-go. He first complained about the court they were playing on, saying it was too fast for him. His verbal complaints only riled up the crowd.
The umpire, Carlos Bernardes, attempted to quiet the crowd down, but failed. Kyrgios did not hold back with criticizing Bernardes for this, which then earned the Australian a warning, then point penalty and then a game penalty. The game penalty ultimately came from Kyrgios smashing his racket after the first set.
Additionally, Kyrgios was upset with the volume of Bernardes’s walkie talkie. During the first set, Kyrgios earned three fines after yelling out frustrations about the umpire. This is when he used an “audible obscenity.”
“He [Bernardes] should be fired on the spot,” Kyrgios said. “Get a new set of referees, these guys don’t know how to do s***. It’s a joke. Get rid of every single staff and start over. Everything. I will run the sport. I could do 100 times a better job. Marketing. Everything. You guys have no idea. None. You guys can’t even ref right.”
The $20,000 verbal abuse fine came from Kyrgios calling Bernardes an “absolute clown” at the end of the match, which the Australian lost 7(7)–6, 6–3.
Kyrgios’s frustration translated onto Twitter as the tennis player posted more criticism about umpiring in the sport.
