It’s Manic Monday at Wimbledon, with all 16 4th-round matches on
I’m getting frustrated myself.
“The boys are behaving disgracefully as far as sportsmen are concerned, they’re not setting a good example for children that follow them”, she said.
There was no disguising his delight when he wrapped up his four-set victory and he immediately set his sights on Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who now stands between him and a place in the last eight for the second year running.
After saving two match points at 5-6, Kyrgios made the most of his escape to take the tie-break.
Kyrgios was booed by hundreds of fans who felt short-changed by a perceived lack of effort, and it barely improved as the set slipped away in just 24 minutes.
While it was pretty absurd to watch Kyrgios just stand there and let Gasquet’s serves fly by him, he did recover after that point, winning the third set and pushing Gasquet in the fourth before ultimately losing.
Kyrgios also claimed Gasquet “was serving too good”, an explanation not accepted by British journalists who grilled the Australian so relentlessly an official mediator had to intervene.
“As a proud Australian it’s a pleasure and privilege to be able to represent my country in Davis Cup”, Kyrgios said as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.
He then appeared to have a nervous breakdown, hugging a rather bemused looking ball boy in despair. At one stage he “tanked” a few points, and berated the umpire before seeking a consoling hug from a ball boy as his attempt to reach the quarterfinals failed.
Although the match between Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils was moved to complete on the main show court on Saturday night, a tournament spokesperson said that was because of Sunday’s rest day, and the urgency to avoid the match being held over to Monday. “You know, I don’t really know what else to say”. Kyrgios’s code violation for an audible obscenity kept up his record of falling foul of the umpire in each of his four rounds during Wimbledon.
Kyrgios reacted quickly on social media. Gasquet said he did not.
With a contingent of Australian fans cheering him on with songs and chants, Kyrgios had other difficulties with Keothavong. Despite the Bulgarian’s bumpy season, beating one of the players that’s tipped to be the new big thing is no easy feat. He is the brother of ex- British player Anne Keothavong. The real test came in the third round, as he was up against 8th seed Milos Raonic. Then he became playful.
However, Kyrgios found a positive response as he raced into a 3-0 lead in the third before Gasquet found his range again to get back to 3-3. “I don’t think people always appreciate how hard it is to grow up under the spotlight”, the Scot said. “That’s why we’re playing it. I mean, is it not?”
Kyrgios had started well and broke Gasquet in the opening game of the match.