Nick Kyrgios rages at the umpire and demands Stefanos Tsitsipas is defaulted

Nick Kyrgios has labelled the umpire a ‘disgrace’ after he did not default his opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas after he hit a ball into the crowd having lost the second set. 

The Australian, who has proved to be his usual controversial self during the first week of Wimbledon after a number of high profile incidents including rows with umpires and crowd members, grew frustrated with the match official during his third-round tie with the fourth seed. 

Kyrgios and Tsitsipas are known to be big personalities on and off the court and the early stages of their match reflected that, with both players involved in various controversial incidents. 

Having won the second set 6-4, Kyrgios asked the umpire to default (disqualify) Tsitsipas after he blasted a ball into the crowd, narrowly missing a female spectator.

When the umpire declined to bend to the Australian’s requests, he demanded that supervisors be called onto the court. ‘I want all of them!’ he said. 

He refused to take to the court for a number of minutes while demanding the Greek was thrown out of the tournament altogether. 

Nick Kyrgios raged at the umpire after he refused to default his opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas

Stefanos Tsitsipas had tried to keep his cool throughout but lost it at the end of the second and subsequently lost the third set

‘Is that a default or what? He just hit the ball at the f****** crowd. Are you dumb? So you can hit a ball at the crowd, hit someone and not get defaulted? Are you dumb?, he said to the chair umpire.

‘You’re a disgrace. You change the rules whenever you want.

‘Give me all the supervisors. I’m not playing until we get to the bottom of it.’

The umpire appeared to explain to Kyrgios, who himself has hit a crowd member with a rogue ball during his career, that he could not default Tsitsipas because the ball did not actually hit anyone.

The number four seed received a code violation warning for his behaviour before he later received a code violation and had a point deducted when he once again hit the ball away in frustration. 

Some of his antics clearly frustrated Stefanos Tsitsipas who became dragged into the saga

After Kyrgios brought out another underarm serve during the third set, the Greek clearly grew even more frustrated and hit the ball away just feet below the first row of spectators behind the baseline. 

The umpire called both Kyrgios and Tsitsipas over and spoke to them to try and settle proceedings as the match threatened to descend into a farce, with both players feeling as though the world was against them. 

Kyrgios, who earlier this week landed himself in hot water during his first round match after he spat in the direction of a spectator, had earlier become furious with the umpire after one of his shots was called out at a crucial stage in the first set.

Stefanos Tsitsipas became dragged into the saga with the umpire and his opponent and his tennis suffered as a result

Stefanos Tsitsipas grew more and more frustrated as Nick Kyrgios claimed back-to-back sets

‘It’s 5-5 all bro, it’s 5-5 all bro. So get a new one, get a new umpire,’ he ranted. 

‘Bro, you’re supposed to make the right call, you don’t get credit unless you make the right call. You just say sorry and it’s all good? It’s f***ing… why don’t you just get a new referee? He’s got one line to call bro.’ 

Tsitsipas had tried to keep his cool while Kyrgios raged throughout the first set but it all came to a boil at the end of the second when he hit the ball away. Clearly, the animosity and frustration was still running deep within Tsitsipas as he subsequently lost the third set 6-3. 

In the fourth, having lost on Tsitsipas’ serve to go down 3-2 in the set, Kyrgios turned his frustration to his team at the other end of the court. 

He demanded to know why they hadn’t ‘changed anything’ from the first set after Tsitsipas saw out his service game with consummate ease. 

Nick Kyrgios in conversation with an official demanding that Stefanos Tsitsipas be defaulted