NEW YORK – Nick Kyrgios did his best on Monday night at the US Open. It turned a pretty benign match into a little show. He cursed, pampered, clashed with the chair referee over small things, argued with someone in his own box to wear a mask, and crushed a ball at Louis Armstrong Stadium. He delighted the crowd, which was flatly in his corner.
However, it didn’t help him play especially good tennis.
Kyrgios, the Australian player with a talented and cheeky talent, saw his US Open quickly end with a decisive defeat against Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut by 6-4, 6-4 and 6-0.
“Look, in the middle of a battle, when you’re eliminated from the track, it’s never good, so you try to extract pressure in many, many ways,” Kyrgios said.
It was a match that would not have been at all memorable if Kyrgios had not tried his best, from the beginning, to turn it into a small circus. He was repeatedly thrown at chair referee Carlos Bernardes when Bernardes soon asked him to put the towel closer to the bins against the wall behind the baseline after Kyrgios used it to wipe the sweat. .
Kyrgios, to the delight of the audience, reveled in Bernardes’ antagonism during the first two sets, despising him during the changes and calling him a “fierce joke, mate” who had to walk “20 extra steps” to put -the towel. its designated place. But in Kyrgios ’mind, there was a point in the theatricalization. He is part of a small position he believes he is taking because he is angry that the most professional tennis players are not vaccinated.
“Look, the situation of the towels for me is incredibly stupid,” Kyrgios said. “I am one of the Tour players completely vaccinated. And from now on I am treated exactly like the players who are not vaccinated. I have the feeling that I want my towel on the court, if it is not disturbing the vision of Bautista Agut , if you don’t see the towel, I don’t see anything wrong with having the towel next to you or on the floor. And it’s absurd to me. “
As a petulant boy getting closer and closer to the line to determine if he will really be punished, Kyrgios continued to make a problem of his towel placement while Bautista Agut, the seed of 18 in the tournament, did so. wounded with a series of powerful landslides. Although Kyrgios has the most powerful service, Bautista Agut earned 80% of his first service points; Kyrgios only won 59%.
Kyrgios’ heart was pounding as the match progressed. He complained about the speed of the court (too slow), about the time the match started (midnight) and about Bernardes at any time the veteran chair referee was looking in his direction. At one point, Kyrgios was mad when he saw Bernardes drinking water when Kyrgios had not had a chance to get a new bottle for him. In the third set, Kyrgios did not even try to hold rallies; he seemed to go behind the ball with such force on every swing, producing some spectacular shots, but without a lively comeback. He won just six points in the last set.
“I just outdid myself, to be honest,” Kyrgios said. “All his merit; he’s a great player. I had a break in the first set, unfortunately I didn’t catch him, and little things like that can turn into a game when you play a world-class player like Roberto. “