Tennis

Nick Kyrgios Gets Six Months’ Probation From ATP Tour


Nick Kyrgios, the temperamental and talented Australian tennis player, was set to be put on probation for six months by the ATP Tour.

The men’s tour announced on Thursday that Kyrgios, 24, had been found to have committed a major offense under the tour’s code of conduct. The tour cited a “pattern of behavior” in the past 12 months of verbally abusing officials. But he will not have to immediately serve a suspension.

Kyrgios, who is ranked 27th, was fined $25,000 and given a suspension of 16 ATP tournament weeks, but the fine and suspension were deferred. They will be dropped if Kyrgios complies with these terms during the six-month probationary period:

  • No further code violations for verbal or physical abuse, unsportsmanlike conduct or a visible obscenity directed at an official

  • Continued support from a mental coach while competing in ATP tournaments

  • Additional support in the off-season from a professional specializing in behavioral management.

The investigation was conducted by Gayle David Bradshaw, the ATP’s executive vice president for rules and competition.

Kyrgios indicated on Thursday, in a comment posted on Instagram, that he intended to forgo an appeal and accept the probation: “Live and die by the sword. I’ll take probo.”

Then, on his own Instagram account, he referred to the ATP ruling as “detention.”

If formally accepted, his probationary period would begin on Monday and expire on March 30.

But it is unclear when Kyrgios will play next. He withdrew from the final day of play at the Laver Cup team event in Geneva on Sunday, citing a collarbone injury. He then flew to China, where he lost in the opening round of singles and doubles on Wednesday at the Zhuhai Championships. He announced afterward that the collarbone problem would keep him from competing for the rest of the Asian swing, which ends with the Shanghai Masters in two weeks.

This month, Patrick Rafter, the former No. 1 and Australian Davis Cup captain, said he was surprised that Kyrgios had not been suspended after his series of outbursts this season: the first at the Rome Masters in May and the latest at the Cincinnati Masters in August. The latter, which included insulting the chair umpire and leaving the court to break rackets, led to $113,000 in fines and the ATP investigation.

“I don’t understand why it hasn’t happened,” Rafter said. “On paper it looks like he should be suspended to me.”

Rod Laver, widely considered the greatest Australian men’s player in history, also suggested this month that a suspension was the right option.

“Whatever they have done hasn’t worked so far, so maybe a suspension is the only answer,” Laver told The Sydney Morning Herald. “I’m not sure he’s learned anything from any of the things that have gone on.”

But Bradshaw, a longtime tennis official who plans to retire from the ATP at the end of the year, chose the probation option.

Based on Kyrgios’s recent behavior, it could be a significant challenge for him to avoid code violations for a six-month period, even if he would not be subject to the terms of the probation at January’s Australian Open, a Grand Slam tournament that is not under the ATP’s jurisdiction.

Kyrgios has successfully navigated one probationary period on tour. In 2015, he received a suspended 28-day ban after making crude remarks to Stan Wawrinka during a match in Montreal. To avoid the ban and a fine, he had to avoid major offenses for six months.

He was also barred for eight weeks in October 2016 for lack of effort in a singles defeat against Mischa Zverev at the Shanghai Masters, but the suspension was reduced to three weeks after he sought psychological counseling.





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