WATCH: ‘They can’t do s**t!’ – Nick Kyrgios erupts at ‘the worst’ umpire in loss
Nick Kyrgios walked a fine line in his fourth round loss to Jannik Sinner as he verbally abused the umpire for large swathes of the match and was one code violation away from being defaulted from the match.
Following a ranting monologue about court conditions early in the match, Kyrgios really kicked off while Sinner was serving at 4-4 in the first set.
After the Italian hit a serve at 4-4, 40-15, which Kyrgios returned in, chair umpire Carlos Bernardes’ radio went off loudly, disrupting the point and forcing him to call a let.
The point was replayed and Sinner hit an ace to seal the game, at which point Kyrgios sarcastically applauded Bernardes before boiling over.
He shouted at the umpire: “You should be fired on the spot!
“How is that possible? How is that possible!
“The fourth round of Miami, one of the biggest tournaments and you guys just can’t do your job.
“It’s embarrassing, it is embarrassing!
Kyrgios then shouted into his court-side microphone: “Get a new set of referees, these guys don’t know how to do s**t!
“It’s a joke, he’s a joke!”
Kyrgios continued for nearly the entire changeover before continuing the match.
“Get rid of every single staff and start over, everything,” he added.
“I’ll run the sport, I could do a 100 times better job, marketing, everything!
“You guys have no idea, none.”
Kyrgios had already received a code violation for audible obscenity from Bernardes before another for unsportsmanlike conduct brought a point penalty upon the Aussie in the opening set tiebreak.
After the breaker, Kyrgios went off at Bernardes once more, shouting repeatedly “what is unsportsmanlike!” before smashing his racket and receiving a game penalty from there, handing Sinner a break lead to open the second set.
“Everything is just the worst when you’re in the chair,” Kyrgios added later in the direction of Bernardes.
The drama continued as a fan even rushed the court to try to get a photo with Kyrgios, prompting a quick response from tournament security.
The code violations racked up by Kyrgios left him just one more from a default but, despite continued verbal assaults on Bernardes, that did not occur.
Instead, Sinner remained calm and composed to close out the match 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 and advance to the quarter-finals in Miami.
This is the second high-profile instance of verbal abuse Bernardes has suffered in 2022.
While umpiring a quarter-final between Denis Shapovalov and Rafael Nadal, the Canadian accused Bernardes of being corrupt for allowing Nadal too much time between points.
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