Tennis’ bad boy Nick Kyrgios was at it again on Thursday, smashing a racquet and flipping a finger at the crowd as he and partner Thanasi Kokkinakis ensured an all-Australian Melbourne Park men’s doubles final for the first time in 42 years.
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis defeated third seeds Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers 7-6, 6-4 to set up a final on Saturday against fellow Australians Matt Ebden and
Max Purcell.
The combustible Kyrgios hit boiling point as he complained about the net cord machine, then pulled out of a service motion at 4-2 in the first set. He also complained that the Rod Laver Arena crowd were yelling in between first and second serves, despite the fact that he and Kokkinakis had been whipping up the fans into a boorish frenzy. He flipped a finger at one section of the crowd, petulantly threw a ball against a wall and smashed his racquet after he dropped his serve.
The Kyrgios complaints about the crowd echo those of some of his opponents earlier in the tournament, and seem surprising given his partner Kokkinakis had said
“the rowdier the better from everyone”.
Quarter-final doubles opponent Michael Venus then labelled Kyrgios an absolute knob for his antics on court. But Kyrgios said he would not rise to the jibe after his semi-final win with Kokkinakis.
“I’m not going to destroy [Venus] in this media conference room right now,” he said. “But Zeballos and Granollers are singles players. They’ve had great careers. I respect them a lot more than I respect Michael Venus,” he added.
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