“The field is the worst. People are the worst. Everything is worse when you’re in the chair.”the Australian tennis player yelled in his face Nick Kyrgios to Judge Carlos Bernardes during the first set tie-break dispute of his Miami Open 2022 fourth round match against Italy’s Jannick Sinner.
But the reproach of the incorrigible Kyrgios – owner of a talent directly proportional to his bad mood and behavior on the edge of the regulation – did not end there. Seconds later he dispatched himself with a new criticism: “Is incredible. This is Miami, the fourth round, and they can’t do their job. Bring in new referees.”
As Sinner was serving to go up 5-4 in that opening set, the sound of the chair umpire’s handy broke out and the point had to be contested again. It was the spark that lit the Australian’s fuse.
“You should be fired right now. They should get rid of all the staff and start over (referring to referees and supervisors). I could do a hundred times better.”, exclaimed Kyrgios as he approached Bernardes’ chair for the change of sides. The judge didn’t even look at him. But the worst was yet to come.
Before the start of the second set (Kyrgios fell in the tie-break of the first), Bernardes penalized him first with a point and then with a game. for the reiteration of “unsportsmanlike conduct”, since the Australian, in addition to speaking loudly, smashed his racket, first against the racket rack and then directly against the floor. “The whole public boo you. You do not love this sport at all ”, Kyrgios launched at Bernardes.
The discussion with Bernardes
It is not the first time that Kyrgios and Bernardes have argued on the pitch. The closest precedent was in the semifinals of Indian Wells this year in the match that the Australian lost against the Spanish Rafael Nadal.
