- Kyrgios was at the center of controversy once again
- Aussie crashed out in expletive-laden comeback
Commentators were forced to repeatedly apologise for Nick Kyrgios’ foul language during his straight sets loss to Jacob Fearnley at the Australian Open on Monday night.
The controversial Aussie made his comeback to Melbourne Park after an 18-month singles hiatus due to crippling injuries.
The 29-year-old firebrand claimed a lingering abdominal strain plagued his serve in a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 7-6 (7-2) loss to the Scot.
Kyrgios unleashed expletives throughout the match that were picked up by courtside microphones.
‘I can’t f***ing serve… just like I told you,’ Kyrgios was heard sayin.
‘Just keep f***ing serving, right? I’m here now. I’m here now so I may as well just keep serving, pretty much.’
Eurosport repeatedly apologised to viewers for Nick Kyrgios ‘ foul language during his straight sets loss to Jacob Fearnley on Monday night
Kyrgios unleashed a host of expletives during the Australian Open match
Eurosport – a network that Kyrgios does commentary work for – apologised to viewers.
‘You can see Nick Kyrgios is starting to unload again,’ said commentator Mikey Perera.
‘I’ll keep apologising, everybody. It might still keep on coming, the bad language from Kyrgios. He’s just venting to his team.’
Perera and Eurosport co-commentator Barry Cowan then questioned why the chair umpire hadn’t taken umbrage with the bad language.
Players usually receive a warning from the umpire if expletives can be heard.
Doubts had been raised over the Aussie’s fitness coming into the Australian Open, with the 29-year-old, who has battled hard to come from a career-threatening wrist injury, previously admitting that it would be a ‘miracle’ if he could make it back for the first slam of 2025.
But after being knocked out of his home slam, Kyrgios raised fears over his future playing career: ‘Realistically, I can’t really see myself playing singles again here.
‘So… It was special. I’ve taken that in. It was pretty good. I mean, yeah, I knew I had doubles and I was kind of taking everything in tonight, in those moments.’
Eurosport commentator Mikey Perera (pictured) and co-commentator Barry Cowan questioned why the chair umpire hadn’t warned the Aussie about his language
Kyrgios admitted on Tuesday evening that this could be the last time he would play singles at the Australian Open
‘It was nuts. But yeah, I didn’t want to just throw in the towel or walk off or retire.’
He added that he was ‘hurting physically’ but he wasn’t going to let down the fans ‘who had waited hours’ outside Melbourne Park to get into the grounds today.
The Aussie had shared snaps of the huge queues of fans waiting outside the tournament to get into the stadium on his Instagram, with some stating that they had been in line for nearly five hours.
But after taking a big sigh, again the Australian, who had previously said that tennis had been ‘mundane’ without him repeated himself: ‘Again, I can’t see myself realistically playing a singles match here again.’
But it won’t be the end of his career. Kyrgios stated that he will continue to play doubles and if his body is right, will continue to play singles at the remaining slams this year.
‘I knew tonight was going to be tough,’ he said.
‘With my physical state, I knew I was going to be really hindered with my serve. But just seeing the fans line up for four or five hours and the amount of people that were supporting me – it was hard to throw the towel in.
‘It would have been really easy to just roll over but I tried to do the best I could with the state I was in physically.
‘Obviously, it was heartbreaking. I wanted to play well and the timing of the abdominal strain is not good but it is what it is.’
