NEW YORK — We will save the debate over whether it’s OK to start a match at 11 p.m. — for players, fans, anyone. Luckily, after a long day of tennis Tuesday at the 2019 US Open, Nick Kyrgios was on good behavior — for him — and decided to put on a show en route to beating American Steve Johnson 6-3, 7-6, 6-4. Missed the match because you were either asleep in North America or pretending to work in Australia? Don’t worry, we watched so you didn’t have to. Here’s what you missed:
A consistently blistering serve
The Kyrgios serve was in full swing on Armstrong Stadium, with the speed and accuracy way too good for Johnson. The Aussie sent down 24 aces, winning a massive 88 percent of points on his first serve, the fastest of which was clocked at 141 mph, second only to Reilly Opelka in the tournament so far. And he finished things off with a massive second serve, too.
It wasn’t all calm, cool and collected
Just when things were seemingly going smoothly with Kyrgios up a set and the second frame tied 4-4, the Australian became unsettled by spectator movement in his eyeline as he was about to serve. He argued with British chair umpire, James Keothavong, and received a code violation for swearing. (In Kyrgios’ defense, there really were a lot of people moving around.)
The continued conversation
1:17
Nick Kyrgios gets upset that fans are leaving their seats during his serve and voices his frustration with the umpire, who hands him a warning.
Not content to let matters lie, Kyrgios demanded to know why Keothavong wasn’t doing more to control the crowd.
Kyrgios: “Why aren’t you looking at them? That’s your job.”
Umpire: “I’m looking at you.”
Kyrgios: “Why are you looking at me?”
Umpire: “Where else would I be looking?”
Kyrgios: “At the ball, in case you need to overrule or something, I don’t know.”
Johnson wasn’t too happy with all of this, saying in clear earshot of the umpire: “Stop f—ing around and play tennis.”
The dance
0:48
Nick Kyrgios hits an athletic shot to bring the tiebreaker to six points, then hits an ace to take the second set.
When you’ve sprinted to the net to chase down a drop shot and then played the most delicate of angles for a winner, you’re entitled to a special celebration. And so Kyrgios pulled out a dance move that Kylie Minogue would have been proud of in 1988 when she brought back The Locomotion. Someone get us a GIF of this — stat!
The opponent
Do we think Steve Johnson meant to steal his look from Mario? As in … Super Mario? The red hat, the mustache — we’re just sayin’. All jokes and resemblances aside, the American tried numerous times to insert himself into the match, often becoming frustrated by Kyrgios’ in-between-points banter and rallying yells from the Australian’s guest section.
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