Nick Kyrgios puts on late-night show, then calls ATP "pretty corrupt"

NEW YORK—“I’m going to put on a show for you guys and see how it goes,” Nick Kyrgios said before he walked into Louis Armstrong Stadium to play Steve Johnson in the first round at the US Open late on Tuesday night.

If you’re a fan of Kyrgios’ shot-making, the show went about as well as you could have hoped. Over three sets, he threw down 24 aces that sounded like gun fire and regularly approached the 140-m.p.h. mark. He hit 53 winners in total, including a one-handed backhand pass; a half-volley hit while standing straight up; a backhand pass that he declared “too good” as he was swinging; a crosscourt flick drop shot that inspired him to do a shake and shimmy on his way back to the baseline; and a full frontal tweener forehand that nearly went for a winner.

In his two-hour, 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-4 victory, Kyrgios won 88 percent of this first-serve points, was 20 of 27 at net, returned aggressively and moved so well that he held Johnson, who was striking the ball well, to just 16 winners. If you’re looking for an example of “what Kyrgios can do when he wants to,” this match would serve as a fine example.

AP Images

Naturally, there were moments when the show could have gone in a different and darker direction. Kyrgios complained about his clothes, accused some fans in the front row of being “easily amused,” jawed with chair umpire James Keothavong about movement in the crowd, and was given a verbal obscenity warning. He shouted toward his player box when things didn’t go well, and elicited an F-bomb from his normally laid-back opponent.

Yet at the end of the second set, just when it looked as if Kyrgios would boil over, he gathered himself—with help from his unstoppable serve—and went on to play one of the best tiebreakers anyone has played this year.

All in all, it was a midnight show that was worth the price of admission. Now that the top two seeds in Kyrgios’s quarter, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Dominic Thiem, are out, it’s a show that could go on for a while. Or at least for as long as he wants to put it on.

UPDATE: In response to a question during his post-match press conference about a record $113,000 fine levied by the ATP for various violations at the Cincinnati Masters, Kyrgios took aim at the tour:

"The ATP is pretty corrupt anyway. I'm not fussed about it at all," Kyrgios said, according to theThe Sydney Morning Herald. "I was fined $113,000 for what? Why are we talking about something that happened three weeks ago when I just chopped up someone first round of a US Open."

On Twitter this morning, New York Times journalist Christopher Clarey gave his opinion on the situation:

While Kyrgios explained his comments:

We'll continue to update this story with further developments.

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