Nick Kyrgios, who joined the likes of Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Pete Sampras and many more for a Nike promotional event in New York, has been hitting the headlines yet again for all the wrong reasons.
It was revealed that the young Australian has been given a suspended 28 day ban as well as a $25,000 fine for his reproachable behaviour during the Rogers Cup in Montreal earlier this month.
The incident itself occurred during Kyrgios’ match against Stan Wawrinka when the world no 37 was heard on camera making lewd remarks towards Wawrinka’s girlfriend Donna Vekic and a fellow Australian player, Thanasi Kokkinakis.
The ATP decided that the 20 year old was guilty of “aggravated behaviour” and the incident needed to be dealt with accordingly.
However, the ban and this fine they are imposing are conditional. The penalties, therefore, will be dropped provided that Kyrgios, over the next six months, does not draw any fines for verbal or physical abuse at any ATP tournament, and does not accumulate fines totalling more than $5,000 for any other offences at ATP-sanctioned tournaments.
According to Gayle David Bradshaw, the ATP’s head of rules and competition, the “incident reflected poorly on our sport. Nick has expressed regret. The best result would be that he learns a lesson and that he understands he is responsible to the tour and to fellow players for both his actions and his words.”
During this match Kyrgios also received a $2,500 fine for unsportsmanlike conduct for a comment he made to a ballperson. The Australian was also fined $10,000 by the tournament for his inappropriate remarks towards Stan Wawrinka and those that he dragged into this mess. Wawrinka was utterly appalled by the Aussie’s behaviour and called for action to be taken. Is the action of the ATP good enough?
So just a few hours after being handed his disciplinary action from the ATP Tour, Kyrgios was part of one of the biggest and star-studded Nike promotional events on the streets of New York. During the NYC Nike event, even Pete Sampras couldn’t resist giving the Australian star a bit of a what for as he apparently quipped: “behave, young man”.
The Aussie number 2 is now all set for the US Open which is not actually an ATP event which essentially means that if he does not heed Pete Sampras’ warning to behave it wouldn’t make a difference to his conditional suspensions and fine anyway. However, if the star breaks the ATP’s code of conduct in any other ATP sanctioned competition before Feburary 24th 2016, the fine and ban will be imposed.
Is the action of the ATP good enough? Does the punishment really fit the offence? Should Kyrgios face harsher sanctions for his behaviour?
