On his way to overcoming Harry Bourchier at the Murray River Open, Australian Nick Kyrgios halted play over a time violation and became embroiled in a row with the umpire.
A few days removed from the opening round of the Australian Open on Monday, Kyrgios grew frustrated after he had been deemed to have went beyond his allotted serve time in the second set.
Walking from the court and taking his seat in protest, he continually tried to explain that he was mid-serve when the umpire called the violation.
"That’s where my service motion starts," he told the chair umpire, subsequent replays demonstrating that the Australian was correct to be frustrated.
"I’m not playing. Get him (the supervisor) out. No, I don’t understand. I wanna talk to him. I’m not f***ing moving. It’s like you guys do it to just be funny. Bro, I was serving. Why’d you have to call it?”
Sitting on the bench as his opponent wandered over to check on the situation, Kyrgios complained to another official who had made his way to him.
"Tennis isn't about him," he said, pointing toward the chair umpire. "He's an extra to make sure all this s**t runs smoothly. So, why does he feel the need to do that?"
Due to Covid-19 protocols, players must now walk back and forth to their stations if they wish to obtain a towel between serves - a detail that Nick Kyrgios believes the umpire chose to ignore.
"He's a smartarse and calls a foul," he complained, "and now I've to get fined for it. I was playing by the rules, I was serving.
"I don't understand why these guys think it is about them."
In the end, Harry Bourchier walked over to Kyrgios and the second officials to suggest that the whole issue be dropped and the game continues.
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