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Kyrgios could yet face further sanction

14th August, 2015
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Booed, fined and bounced out of the Rogers Cup with his tail between his legs, an apologetic Nick Kyrgios has been taught a tough tennis lesson.

The Australian tyro stunned the sporting world on Thursday (Australian time) with a lewd sledge of reigning French Open champion Stan Wawrinka in his second round win over the world No.5 in Montreal.

The 20-year-old was fined $US10,000 ($A13,550) for the slur, with another $US2500 on top for comments to a ball person.

The ATP is investigating whether his actions constitute a violation of the Player Major Offence provisions, which could result in further sanction.

But worst of all, he faces the condemnation of his peers after exiting the tournament on Friday with a 7-5 6-3 loss to big-serving American John Isner.

Kyrgios publicly and privately apologised to a furious Wawrinka for the sledge, which was picked up by courtside microphones but not by the Swiss at the time.

Kyrgios said Wawrinka confronted him after their match.

“He came up to me, as you know he would … I told him I was sorry,” he said.

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“Obviously he was angry, so I just had to deal with it. Hopefully we can just put it behind.”

Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal, who both won through to the quarter-finals, echoed Wawrinka’s condemnation of Kyrgios’ actions.

“He was fined, he deserved it,” Djokovic said.

“I think he’s going to learn a lesson in a hard way.

“I understand that every player goes through certain tantrums, emotional ups and downs during the match.

“But … there’s no excuse of directing your tantrums to your opponent, especially to somebody that is not even there.”

Nadal said Kyrgios’ young age was “not an excuse”.

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“Most of the players around the tour started very early … I hope he is able to recognise his mistake and change his attitude.”

The players’ council also publicly condemned Kyrgios, saying the comments were disrespectful and “have no place in our sport”.

Kyrgios’ now-infamous utterance was “Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend. Sorry to tell you that mate”.

The embattled Canberran did receive support from Davis Cup captain Wally Masur, who said Kyrgios was still in his plans for the upcoming semi-final with Great Britain.

“He’s part of our plans absolutely,” he told Fox Sports.

“How punitive can you be?

“Nick is paying a very heavy price financially, obviously the consequences will go beyond this week.”

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Masur urged tennis fans not to write off Kyrgios, who will come under the arm of former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt in the lead-up to the semi-final.

“He’s got enormous potential, he’s a good kid at heart,” he said.

“We’re trying to put things in place behind the scenes that can make a difference and help Nick achieve that potential.

“Nick polarises opinion but there’s been a lot of young prodigies come onto tour that have been exactly the same.

“Nick is on a journey… this is all part of a learning curve.”

Kyrgios was booed heartily by the Canadian crowd during the Isner match and he joined Bernard Tomic as a round of 16 loser at the Masters 1000 tournament.

Tomic lost 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

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Both players will head to Cinnicinati for another US Open lead-up event beginning Monday (Australian time).

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