Kyrgios Goes Crazy In Rome, But Federer Does His Best To Steal The Show

Nick Kyrgios of Australia in action against Daniil Medvedev of Russia during their men’s singles first round match at the Italian Open tennis tournament in Rome, Italy, 14 May 2019. EPA-EFE/ETTORE FERRARI

 

 

By Ricky Dimon

 

It was an “eventful” stay in Rome for Nick Kyrgios, and it came to an abrupt end on Thursday afternoon.

 

Kyrgios got defaulted from his second-round match against Casper Ruud after incurring multiple code violations, including one for throwing a chair onto the court. Earlier in the week, the volatile Australian engaged in an interview with writer Ben Rothenberg in which he ripped into Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Fernando Verdasco.

 

Although Kyrgios skipped press following his default, he posted the video of his meltdown on Instagram with comments such as “eventful,” “emotions got the better of me,” and that “maybe” he would return to Rome in the future.

 

The 24-year-old will forfeit ranking points and prize money from Rome due to the default.

 

Ruud said afterward that he thinks Kyrgios should be suspended for “at least half a year.” Roger Federer, however, was having none of that.

 

“I don’t think he should be suspended, personally,” Federer commented. “He walked off the court. What did he do? He hurt a chair? I mean, that’s not enough for me. I don’t know if he’s on probation or not from his Shanghai thing (in 2017) or not. If that’s the case, then obviously you can maybe look into it. If that’s run its course, I don’t think he should be suspended.

 

“A zero-pointer, fine, all this stuff is already tough enough. He knows it’s a mistake what happened.”

 

Make no mistake about this, though: Federer is through to the quarterfinals. The 37-year-old Swiss saved two match points against Borna Coric before surviving in a third-set tiebreaker. Next up for Federer is an on-fire Stefanos Tsitsipas.

 

“It was very tight,” he said of the match with Coric. “I got very lucky again today already like in Madrid. It’s nice to get lucky I guess sometimes. I’ve lost a lot of heartbreakers throughout the years so it’s nice to win these and the atmosphere was fantastic. People were going crazy. It’s exactly how you want the atmosphere to be.”

 

Ruud, meanwhile, lost later in the day to Juan Martin Del Potro.

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.