Nick Kyrgios has been knocked out of Wimbledon in the fourth round, going down to French player Richard Gasquet in a characteristically volatile match that saw him exchanging heated words with his support team, an umpire and a member of the crowd.
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The Court Two crowd booed Kyrgios as he appeared to deliberately lose the third game of their second set, with the 20 -year-old having been riled at being handed a code violation for swearing by umpire James Keothavong.
There was no disguising his delight when he wrapped up his four-set victory and he immediately set his sights on Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who now stands between him and a place in the last eight for the second year running.
During a change-over, Kyrgios appeared to become irritated with a the ref for hurrying him along as he sat on the sideline changing his socks.
After Keothavong replied to Kyrgios, the combustible Canberra man said: “I’m staying on the court”.
When it was suggested he had remained rooted to the spot, Kyrgios said: “I did move”. I had to put pressure on my serve. “I was going for my sixth, and Rafa for his first”.
While Kyrgios headed away to cool off and to play mixed doubles with Madison Keys, Gasquet addressed the question of his opponent’s errant behaviour.
Bizarrely, some have taken to smearing their faces in edible spread and sending shots on social media to the Australian showman, hoping to grab his attention.
“I’ve just had a little bit of a sinus infection the last couple weeks”, Kyrgios said. “Mate if you’re gonna get raging with me for that, that’s another level”, he said. It’s good for me.
His march to the last 16, following his heroics at the All England Club a year ago and another quarter-final charge at the Australian Open, had tennis greats Mats Wilander, John McEnroe and John Newcombe agreeing it would be mad to write the young sensation off.
Meanwhile Gilles Simon, the 12th seed caused an upset by beating 2010 finalist Tomas Berdych 6-3 6-3 6-2.
He is the last Aussie standing after Sam Groth lost to Roger Federer 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-2, and Casey Dellacqua was beaten 6-1 6-4 by Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in round three.
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Cilic will tackle whoever survives the one-set Tuesday shoot-out between Djokovic and Anderson, the latter being the man who will surely benefit most from the interruption after the champion began to justify his status.
