Wednesday was an odd day in the tennis world.
That’s putting it lightly, too. Nick Kyrgios had a match with Mischa Zverev at the Shanghai Masters, which he lost 6-3, 6-1. A rough loss, but the score doesn’t do the talking.
Kyrgios didn’t try at all, which caused the ATP to come down hard on him with a $16,500 fine.
The total came about in quite the interesting fashion, as ESPN explained:
The ATP announced Thursday that Kyrgios received the maximum possible fine of $10,000 for showing a “lack of best efforts” in the match, as well as a $5,000 fine for the verbal abuse of a spectator and a $1,500 fine for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The verbal abuse came during and after the game. Again, in odd fashion:
While the crowd was booing and jeering Kyrgios, one man yelled, “Respect the game.” A furious Kyrgios shouted back, “You want to come here and play?”
In a post-match interview:
“What does that even mean? I’m good at hitting a tennis ball at the net. Big deal. I don’t owe them anything,” he said. “If you don’t like it, I didn’t ask you to come watch. Just leave.”
A bit of the action, for those who care to watch:
Nick Kyrgios not exactly trying his hardest at the #ShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/p2XQy9krWZ
— Spreadex Sports (@SpreadexSport) October 12, 2016
Kyrgios later took to Twitter to apologize:
Not good enough today on many levels, I’m better than that. I can go on about excuses but there are none. Sorry #StillAWorkInProgress
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) October 12, 2016
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This is a terrible look by one of the game’s up-and-coming stars. It doesn’t sound like fans will get an explanation, either.
Whether he wanted it or not, Kyrgios just made himself one of the more polarizing players in tennis.
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