It was inevitable Australia’s most combustible sportsman, Nick Kyrgios, would be closely watched when Mohamed Lahyani was appointed central umpire to the first round Wimbledon clash with Radek Stepanek.
Kyrgios won 6-4 6-3 6-7 (9-11) 6-1 in 225 minutes, but there’s form with the Swedish ump, so it came as no surprise when Kyrgios was hit with a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct after losing that tense third set tie-breaker.
Kyrgios deserved it, but Lahyani has his cross-hairs on the Australian, while he constantly lets the greatest abuser of time wasting, Rafael Nadal, off scot free.
Lahyani is guilty of double standards.
The rules are simple – play must resume 25 seconds after the completion of the last point, there’s 90 seconds at changeovers, and 120 seconds between sets.
Nadal abuses all three time after time after time, and Lahyani, one of the most experienced central umpires, allows Nadal 30-35 seconds, well over two minutes, and close to three minutes.
How many times have you seen Nadal leap off his chair and start sprinting into position overtime?
Countless.
I have no time for Kyrgios’ usual crap behaviour, but last night he was in control except for the minor violation.
He is a phenomenal player capable of playing incredible shots off either wing in support of an explosive serve that produced 25 aces to 11 last night.
And he’s not afraid to pull off the unpredictable – a between-the-legs lob to perfection, and racing in to pick up a Stepanek drop shot to flick it one-handed backhand across the Czech’s advance.
Both difficult, but both brilliant in execution.
If a future danger surfaced last night for Kyrgios, it was his break-point conversion rate – just six from 16.
He will be playing far better opposition as he advances, so he must be more successful in that vital area.
It’s hard enough to earn a break point without converting them.
But all up it was a solid and productive start for the 21-year-old ranked 15, who has the genuine ammunition to fire at the home of tennis.
Bernard Tomic, ranked 19, the other Australian with a history of being a brat, was locked at two sets apiece with the always dangerous Spaniard Fernando Verdasco when the heavens opened with torrential rain.
They are on Court 2, with no roof. Only Centre Court has a roof, although Court 1 will be covered by 2019 at a cost of 70 million British pounds.
So far Kyrios, John Millman, Sam Stosur, and Daria Gavrilova are the Australians safely through to the second round, while Luke Saville and Jordan Thompson were first-round casualties.
Lord Windermere
Guest
Sport is family entertainment. An audience pays to see the game, not the TV antics, foul temper tantrums and filthy language. My children think little of players who behave childishly - like themselves. Young people in the main, look for role models. They copy those they admire just as we did as youngsters. With one or two exceptions, the great players are not like Kyrgios and Tomic.
Josh
Guest
That's true. Anybody should be able to curse to themselves. If not, Murray might as well retire
Carl Spackler
Guest
Poor umpiring from what I saw of it. He is allowed to curse when he is angry at himself.
armchair expert
Guest
Lets face it, he is a bit of a flog and has built that reputation and therefore umpires will keep their eye on him. He should be keeping under the radar but obviously thinks being a loud mouth twat motivates him. The bloke can play, its a pity that the crowd turn up to see his antics and cheer for whoever he is playing. I want to like him but needs to grow up a bit before I will cheer for him.
Josh
Guest
I thought he played great and was very well composed. He had a violation for swearing and he questioned the umpire a number of times on what it was. From looking at the ump he may have said "BS". Except it was the full word. Kyrgios questioned that has anybody else been code violated for that word. It was a valid question and obviously rhetorical. Overall he was in control and engaging with both the fans and the media after the game. On other sites it has been sensationalised as a "running battle" with the ump. I think the whole episode was over about 2 minutes so I am not sure of what a running battle is.