Nick Kyrgios calls out abuse after receiving death threats
Former world number 13 Nick Kyrgios has taken to Instagram to showcase the abuse he received on social media following his recent on-court outbursts.
Over the last few weeks, the Australian has been in trouble with the tennis authorities on numerous occasions, including when he received a total of $60,000 (£44,000) in fines for his bad behavior and breaking multiple code violations across both the Indian Wells Masters and the Miami Open last month.
This week saw Kyrgios at the center of controversy again as he crashed out of the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston after losing to America’s Reilly Opelka in the semi-finals.
At a crucial stage in the second set, where the score was 5-5 and 30-15 in favour of the Kyrgios, the World number 94 lost his cool and composure following an apparent error from umpire Joshua Brace, who failed to call a Opelka forehand return out.
He went on to be broken, losing the next two points and was given a point penalty after his second warning for foul language on court. Opelka was then up 6-5 and comfortably served out the game to win the match and advance to the final.
At the final changeover, Kyrgios continued to vent his anger screaming ”F***! F****** out! How are you not calling it? It’s an absolute joke”. He even asked the umpire after the match, “Do you feel bad? I don’t think you feel bad.”
In the wake of his latest defeat, Nick Kyrgios was subject to online abuse and received several unpleasant messages on Instagram, including death threats.
In response, the man from Canberra posted screenshots of the messages and posted them on his Instagram story. One message in particular to Kyrgios, by user xcr13 stated, “You are f****** dead watch your back.” The tennis star captioned this screenshot writing “Nice threats my g.”
? Join >> Receive $700/£600 of tennis gear from the Tennishead CLUB
? Social >> Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube
? Read >> World’s best tennis magazine
? Watch >> How to enjoy ATP/WTA/Slam tennis on TV
? Shop >> Lowest price tennis gear from our trusted partner
? Gambling>> Betway tennis odds