During the second-round Rogers Cup match in Montreal on Wednesday, the 20-year-old Kyrgios linked the reigning French Open champion with teenage Australian player, Thanasi Kokkinakis.
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The ATP Tour fined Australia’s Nick Kyrgios $12,500 on Thursday as it launched an investigation into an insulting comment he made during a Rogers Cup tennis match against Swiss tennis star Stan Wawrinka.
Wawrinka, 30, said on Twitter that Kyrgios ‘s on-court remarks were “so low” and “beyond belief”. “To Donna, it is so demeaning for her, and I think that it doesn’t encourage women to come into the sport, certainly not the junior girls if they’re going to put up with that”.
When he walked out on to the court for his third-round encounter with American John Isner, the crowd booed him loudly. It was about late in the second or early in the third set when Kyrgios spouted those words. But Australian veteran Lleyton Hewitt began a mentoring role with Kyrgios that started in Montreal.
“It’s been tough”, he said.
“I knew I’d have to play aggressive to beat him”, said Nishikori, who was runner-up at the US Open in New York past year. “I got some sleep last night”.
World No41 Kyrgios, meanwhile, initially claimed he had been provoked, although later apologised.
“He was getting a bit lippy at me”, Kyrgios said in a television interview after the match.
Wawrinka took to social media to proclaim his disbelief that a fellow professional could “stoop so low” with remarks he would not even say to his “worst enemy”.
Kyrgios and Wawrinka then clashed in the hallway by the locker-room.
The $10,000 sum is the maximum financial penalty allowed on site, according to the ATP.
“He tried to avoid me, but I confronted him”, Wawrinka confides.
“Obviously he [Wawrinka] saw me in the corridor yesterday”, Kyrgios said after his loss to Isner.
He later issued an apology on Facebook, saying: “My comments were made in the heat of the moment and were unacceptable on many levels”.
He also questioned why Wawrinka wasn’t under scrutiny for “putting his hands” on Kyrgios post-match. In addition to the private apology, he also included a public one as well stating he truly regrets what has happened and takes full responsibility for it. His fine? A measly $1500. “In my opinion it was completely unnecessary to comment something like that”, he said. “I think he’s saying a lot of things every day, so it’s quite interesting for journalists to hear that”.
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Wawrinkas coach, Magnus Norman, also criticized Kyrgios, who has been at the center of controversy in recent weeks.
