The player received two cautions for hitting the ball carelessly, one into the crowd and one too hard into the backboard after Kyrgios served into the armpits. He has been ordered to pay $10,000 (£8,260). This matches the fine handed to Australia’s Kyrgios for his antics during his first-round win over Britain’s Paul Jubb, where he admitted spitting in the direction of a spectator who was chasing him. Kyrgios, who was himself fined $4,000 (£3,300) for swearing during Saturday’s match, made repeated appeals to referee Damien Dumusois and other tournament officials for Tsitsipas to default on his first offence. . Tsitsipas hurled the ball angrily towards the spectators sitting in the yard, but Dumusois deemed the offense only worthy of a caution. Players can be fined up to $20,000 for an unsportsmanlike conduct offense, while flagrant abuses can be considered serious offenses and lead to further sanctions. There is a specific offense of ball abuse, which is defined as “intentionally hitting a ball outside the court enclosure, dangerously or recklessly hitting a ball inside the court, or hitting a ball with reckless disregard for the consequences.” Tsitsipas apologized for his behavior and admitted afterwards that he lost his temper at Kyrgios’s constant complaints to Dumusois. The Greek, who also called Kyrgios a bully, said: “I have to say it was very bad on my part. I’ve never done that before, throwing the ball out of bounds like that. Image: Tsitsipas said he felt affected by Kyrgios’ behavior “I apologized to people. I don’t know what went through my mind at that moment. I think he’s a part (of it) too, with the whole circus show happening on the other side of the network. “It started to get really tiring, in a way. I didn’t hit anybody. He hit the wall, thank God. I’m definitely not going to do that again. It’s my responsibility, for sure. But there was also something that created this behavior that I’m not used to to see for myself.” Image: Kyrgios said he “didn’t do anything” Kyrgios did not accept he had anything to apologise, saying: “I’m not sure how I bullied him. He was the one hitting balls at me, he was the one hitting a spectator, he was the one popping it off the court. I did not do anything. The Australian will later face American Brandon Nakashima for a place in the quarter-finals.
