The Bad Boy of Tennis is not a new title for Australia’s Nick Kyrgios. Despite his run to the Wimbledon final in July, his best-ever result at a major, the 27-year-old has been making headlines off the court this year, too. He was fined $35,000 by the ATP for verbal abuse, audible obscenities and unsportsmanlike conduct at the Miami Open. He’s being sued by a tennis fan who was temporarily removed from Centre Court during the men’s Wimbledon final, for his “drunk out of her mind” comment—and that’s just in the last few months.
Kyrgios is also facing assault charges related to an incident involving his former girlfriend, in January 2021 in Canberra.
Controversy seems to follow Kyrgios. Here’s a rundown of the biggest headlines the Australian has made since 2015.
2015
The first memorable controversy surrounding Kyrgios happened at the 2015 Australian Open. During his first-round match, the then 19-year-old was fined $4,926 for racket abuse and audible obscenities. This marks the first tournament where Kyrgios’ name became synonymous with being a “bad boy” in tennis.
In the first round, Kyrgios was heard using the term “dirty scum” while playing against Diego Schwartzman. But nothing came out of the situation, as Kyrgios apologized and said the comment was directed at himself, not his opponent.
In the second round, a linesman reported Kyrgios to the chair umpire for repeatedly using expletives while playing. Kyrgios then chimed off his infamous quote to the umpire: “Does it feel good to be up there in that chair? Does it feel strong to be up in the chair?”
Kyrgios kept winning at Wimbledon that year, despite the controversies. In his third-round match, he received a code of conduct warning after he slammed his racket so hard that it flew into the stands. He later began arguing with a female spectator who yelled something at the player and began laughing.
But it was his finish at Wimbledon 2015 that really put Kyrgios in the spotlight. In his fourth-round match against Richard Gasquet, Kyrgios was accused of tanking. For example, he didn’t seem to try returning a few of the serves. The Australian was booed off the court after he lost. In the press conference after the match, he dismissed any accusations that he was intentionally playing below his ability.
Kyrgios received his biggest punishment in his young career at that point while playing against Stan Wawrinka at the 2015 Rogers Cup in Montreal. During one of the changeovers, Kyrgios directed the comment “[Thanasi] Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend. Sorry to tell you that, mate” at Wawrinka, and even said that he was “banging 18-year-olds.” The microphone picked up Kyrgios’s comments.
Because of what happened, the Australian was fined $10,000 for the comments, along with an additional $2,500 fine for comments he directed at a ball person during the match. The ATP then reviewed the incident and decided to suspend Kyrgios 28 days and give him a $25,000 fine for vulgar comments.
2016
In the second round of the Shanghai Masters in October, Kyrgios earned an even larger fine than he did in 2015. Once again, he was accused of tanking, this time in a match against Alexander Zverev. Because of his purposeful lack of effort, Kyrgios was fined $32,900 with an additional $13,127 specifically for lack of effort. He also earned a $6,563 fine for verbal abuse of a spectator and $1,969 fine for unsportsmanlike conduct. On top of the fines, he was once again banned from competing for eight weeks.
2017
At the same tournament where he was dealt a hefty fine at in 2016, the Shanghai Masters, Kyrgios received another large fine in his return the following year. He retired halfway during his first round-match vs. Steve Johnson. Kyrgios, now 22, received a point penalty during the tiebreak in the first set from the chair umpire, which led the Australian to tell the umpire he would quit the match if he lost the tiebreak. He ended up losing it, so he kept to his word and quit. Kyrgios was fined $10,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct and his $21,085 prize money from the tournament was taken away.
2019
At the 2019 Italian Open, Kyrgios completely lost his cool on the court during his second-round match vs. Casper Ruud. He was disqualified from the match after a string of events, starting with him cussing out a fan in the third set, which gave him a point penalty. Following the penalty, Kyrgios went on to kick a bottle, throw his racket, throw a chair on the court and then pick up his bag and leave.
After his actions on court, the Australian was fined 20,000 Euros for unsportsmanlike conduct and lost his prize money. He also forfeit his 45 ranking points he earned from the tournament.
Kyrgios then received a $113,000 fine (yes, you read that right) after his behavior at the Cincinnati Masters. He smashed two rackets and then referred to the chair umpire of the match as a “tool” by using an expletive. What became the major headline from this incident, though, was what Kyrgios said afterward. The Australian said the “ATP is pretty corrupt anyway.” He later clarified his comments saying he wanted to highlight the “double standards” not “corruptions.”
2020
Not all of Kyrgios’s top story lines come from his actions on the court. Sometimes, he sparks an outcry based on what he posts on social media. For example, after various tennis players, including Novak Djokovic, tested positive for COVID-19 after a tournament the Serbian hosted in June 2020, Kyrgios compared the “irresponsible” behavior to how he’d been treated in the past.
“Prayers up to all the players that have contracted COVID-19. Don't @ me for anything I've done that has been 'irresponsible' or classified as 'stupidity' - this takes the cake,” Kyrgios wrote.
2022
At his Miami Open match against Jannik Sinner in March, Kyrgios received a $35,000 fine based on four different offenses—$20,000 of the fine came from verbal abuse, then he received a $5,000 fine for audible obscenity and two $5,000 fines for unsportsmanlike conduct. Most of the fines came from comments Kyrgios directed at the chair umpire of the match.
Kyrgios’s name was all over headlines during Wimbledon this year, and not just because he was playing well. His controversies began during his first round match when he spit towards a fan after he claimed that the fan was verbally abusing him.
His third-round match against Stefanos Tsitsipas was one for tennis fans to remember based on the behavior between the two stars. At one point during the four-set match, Tsitsipas hit a ball in the stands out of frustration, and the ball ended up close to a female spectator. Tsitsipas was not defaulted for the incident, and Kyrgios did not hold back in his opinion that he thought Tsitsipas should earn a point penalty for the action.
Their frustrations with each other on the court led to both players being fined after the match. Kyrgios earned a $4,000 fine for an audible obscenity he used following a code violation. Tsitsipas earned a much larger fine at $10,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct.
News regarding Kyrgios’s personal life came out during this year’s Wimbledon, too. During the second week of play, it was reported that Kyrgios was due to appear in court in August after he was charged with assaulting his former girlfriend in December 2021, first reported by Australia’s Canberra Times. As of Aug. 22, the case has been adjourned to Oct. 4, meaning the Australian will still be able to compete in the U.S. Open. The charge could potentially put Kyrgios in prison for up to two years if found guilty.
This isn’t the only legal trouble Kyrgios is currently dealing with. During the July 10 Wimbledon final between Kyrgios and Djokovic, the Australian became bothered by a fan in the crowd, whom he claimed was “drunk out of her mind.” He even said she “looks like she’s had 700 drinks.”
The fan sued Kyrgios for defamation. The fan explained that she was removed from the match because of his statements, and the comments were heard by millions of fans around the world.
