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Nick Kyrgios looking on

Roger Federer refuses to defend Nick Kyrgios as Australian receives record fine


Roger Federer has refused to defend Nick Kyrgios after the Australian was hit with a huge fine for his shocking on-court antics at the Cincinnati Masters.

Federer has often been a staunch defender of Kyrgios in the past, but appeared to abandon that position on this occasion.

“Yeah I watched it,” Federer said of the remarkable scenes where Kyrgios swore and spat at the chair umpire and walked off court to smash a pair of rackets in the locker room area earlier this week during a defeat to Karen Khachanov..

“I’m not going to comment on it because I’m just not really in the mood.”

Kyrgios has paid a heavy price for his behaviour after the ATP handed him the biggest fine on record.

The 24-year-old must pay a total of $113,000 covering five charges of unsportsmanlike conduct, one charge of verbal abuse, one for audible obscenity, and one for leaving the court without permission.

It could get even worse for Kyrgios too, with the ATP confirming they are considering a suspension too.

“The ATP is looking further into what happened during and immediately after the match to see if additional action is warranted under the Player Major Offense section of the code. That could result in an additional fine and/or suspension,” the game’s governing body said.

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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.