Nick Kyrgios, of Australia, returns to Richard Gasquet, of France, during a first round match at the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015, in Mason, Ohio. AP Photo
NEW YORK, United States—Nick Kyrgios went down swinging at the US Open, losing for the fourth time to Andy Murray before jousting with the media over his “bad boy” reputation which he lambasted as “ridiculous.”
READ: Nick Kyrgios fined, suspended for comments about Wawrinka
The 20-year-old Australian arrived in New York under the cloud of a possible suspension following his infamous sex slur at Stan Wawrinka in Montreal which brought widespread condemnation.
On court Tuesday, Kyrgios was fuming at fans moving between points as early as the fourth game, managed to let his racquet slip from his hand as he lined up a forehand, claimed the floodlights were affecting his serve before he finally picked up a warning for offensive language.
For good effect, he even appeared to doze off during the changeover after the first set in his 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 loss to the 2012 champion.
Once again, his post-match press conference was dominated by the Wawrinka affair despite him already claiming to have apologized to the French Open champion.
“I’d like to think that I’m going to learn from it. I think I have. I think I’m on the right path,” he insisted.
“I don’t think any of us in this room right now were perfect at 20. Speak up if you were.”
After a brief pause, he added: “Thought so.”
Kyrgios was in no mood to be conciliatory to the gathered international media, many of whom he views as his chief tormentors.
He leapt to the defence of his fellow young Australians—Bernard Tomic, who has his own impressive rap-sheet, and Thanasi Kokkinakis, the man caught up in the Montreal affair.
Kyrgios had taunted Wawrinka that Kokkinakis had slept with his girlfiend.
“Bernard, he’s harmless. He’s just a normal kid. I don’t really understand where he gets this reputation from, or where I get it from at all,” pleaded Kyrgios.
“We show emotion out there. We might not be the most usual tennis players you see. Somehow we got this reputation that’s just ridiculous.”
Kyrgios was warming to his task now.
On his decision to wear a compression sleeve on one arm: “I just wear it because I like it. It’s not against the rules.”
What has he learned from his recent trials?
“Keep your mouth shut at times.”
And that incident when he appeared to nod off after the first set?
“Just taking a nap, I guess. It’s good for you.”
Murray has been a long-time defender of Kyrgios and has asked for the Australian to be cut some slack.
The Scot admitted that he finds some of Kyrgios’s antics amusing.
“All the matches we have played, there have been a couple points where I have laughed on the court or smiled because some of the stuff is funny,” said the third seed.
“I mean, when he let go of the racquet today after the forehand, I mean, that only happens to him. Went into the crowd. I mean, yeah, that’s funny when you’re playing against him.”
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