Australian teen tennis ace Nick Kyrgios ousted Russian Mikhail Youzhny in four sets to advance to the second round of the U.S. Open.
Kyrgios' beaten opponent defended the Australian's on-court conduct after the teenager flirted with disqualification from the US Open on Monday. Kyrgios backed his Wimbledon slaying of Rafael Nadal with a stirring 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), 2-6 7-6 (7-1) victory over Youzhny on his Flushing Meadows main-draw debut.
But the 19-year-old stood just one point away from being forfeited after earning three code violations during the tense and high-quality three-hour encounter on Show Court 17, Fox News reported.
Kyrgios smashed a ball out of the stadium in frustration during the second set, then dropped the F-bomb before being docked a game in the fourth set for a second audible obscenity.
Tennis great John McEnroe said that most players never even see that game penalty, adding that he has seen it. In Kyrgios's defence, he was only penalised a game, to fall behind 3-1 in the set, because his third offence came on game point against him.
Unfazed, he held his next service game to love before breaking back to advance to the second round in an otherwise impressive performance.
Youzhny, one of the tour's elder statesmen and a two-time Open semi-finalist, felt Kyrgios's behaviour was little more than a display of passion and youthful exuberance.
Youzhny said that Kyrgios is young, adding that it's normal and emotional. He said that Kyrgios looks like he has lots of emotions, adding that sometimes it helps, sometimes it does not help.
Kyrgios conceded that his outbursts probably don't help and that he was trying to eliminate them from his game. He added that it just comes from having high expectations most of the time.
Kyrgios said that he has been an emotional player most of his career. Maybe, he added that he would be able to manage it in the future.
