Nick Kyrgios appeared to give up on a game in the middle of his match with Richard Gasquet
Nick Kyrgios, the 20-year-old controversy-courting Australian, had quite an interesting match Monday at Wimbledon.
Facing Richard Gasquet in an eventual 7-5, 6-1, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (8-6) win for the Frenchman, Kyrgios received a code violation for swearing in the second set ... then proceeded to do the following:
Kyrgios went on to vehemently deny that he intentionally tanked the game, telling reporters, "Of course I tried."
That was just part of a heated exchange with journalists.
As laid out by Sky Sports:
A reporter asked: "You didn't return the serves. It looked like you weren't trying, which is very unusual at Wimbledon."
Kyrgios: "Do you want to try to return Richard Gasquet's serve? I'll give you the racket and we'll see how many times you can return his serve."
Reporter: "You're a professional player -- I'm not."
Kyrgios: "He served too good."
Reporter: "You didn't even try to return it. You walked away from it. Can I get a proper explanation as to why you didn't return the serves? Not just a sort of mumbled ... one word."
Kyrgios: "How many aces did he hit that game? One? That game, did he hit one ace? Did he hit one ace?"
Reporter: "Is that an explanation? This is ridiculous."
Kyrgios
could be fined $20,000 for the action.
It also wasn't Kyrgios' only odd behavior during the match. He also hugged a ball boy, because (via Sky): "I just felt like a hug, I guess. Everyone now and then wants a hug. It hurts. I expected more out of myself. I feel like I've let people down."
You can see the hug at the 15-second mark here:
Finally, Kyrgios completed the odd trifecta by celebrating what looked like a winner ... only to have Gasquet return the shot and take the point.
Kyrgios is just 20, however, and received some advice from
a once-fiery but now-maturing Andy Murray.
Said the Scot, who has mentored Kyrgios: "I'm sure, in the next few years, he'll start to maybe calm down a bit on the court and learn to use his emotions more positively, more often. Because when he uses his energy the right way, he plays some unbelievable tennis."