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WIMBLEDON 2022

How much has Nick Kyrgios been fined for his Wimbledon final meltdown against Djokovic?

With the outburst in the Wimbledon Men’s Final drawing another fine for Nick Kyrgios, we look at the total levied against the most fined player in tennis

Update:
With the outburst in the Wimbledon Men's Final drawing another fine for Nick Kyrgios, we look at the total levied against the most fined player in tennis
Anadolu AgencyGetty

There are lots of labels that you can put onto Nick Kyrgios, but shrinking violet isn’t one of them. He frequently out-McEnroes McEnroe, shouting at opponents, giving grief to the umpire, and telling fans just what he thinks. You can describe his relationship with the public as “love/hate”: he seems to love the fact that they seem to hate him.

The 2022 Wimbledon fortnight was no exception, with the Australian 45th-ranked player racking up a total of £15,000 ($17,900USD) in fines during the competition.

The most public of the infractions which warranted a levy was an outburst during his Men’s Finals match with number-seven-ranked Novak Djokovic, in which Kyrgios remonstrated with an intoxicated heckler.

Carrying a reputation like his into a Grand Slam final will always encourage some friction among the fans, but at a staid, traditional, and sometimes-respectable institution like the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (yes, that is the proper name of the place), a player who rocks the boat as much as Kyrgios does can expect more than a little resistance.

Add to this the manner in which he made the final, by Rafael Nadal withdrawing from the semi-final with a torn abdominal muscle, made some fans extra critical, implying that Kyrgios didn’t deserve to be in the final.

And then we reach the final element of this perfect recipe for heckling: the British summer has been ideal. 90º and sunny, strawberries and cream, Pimms and beer, England in summer is glorious, and when the rain stops long enough to enjoy it, the British public go, well, kind of… nuts.

This was apparently the case with a front-row fan, allegedly a little worse for the wear, continually heckling Kyrgios during the first two sets. Clearly frustrated, the Australian asked for her to be dealt with by the chair umpire, Renaud Lichtenstein, and when no action was taken, he made his annoyance known, asking, “Why is she still here? She’s drunk out of her mind in the first row, speaking to me in the middle of the game. What’s acceptable?”

When Lichtenstein asked Kyrgios to point her out to him, he made the internet meme Gods very happy with his response, “It’s the one in the dress, the one that looks like she’s had 700 drinks, bro.”

During all of this hullabaloo, Kyrgios added to the coffers of the ATP by being issued with a £3300 ($3900USD) fine for swearing.

After taking the first set, Kyrgios went on to lose the next three to finish 4-6 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-3) and see Djoko win his seventh grand slam title. While Kyrgios said afterward that the incident with the drunken fan didn’t cost him the game, he was frustrated by the lack of recognition for the gravitas of the moment.

“I’m playing the Wimbledon final against probably one of the best players of all time. I don’t need someone absolutely smashed talking to me point in, point out. Do you know what I mean? I’m all for having a great time. Like speaking between first and second serves to me, you know.”

With an impish look, he made perhaps the understatement of the year when he continued, “I mean, look, I’ve been on a couple nights out in my life. And I knew that she had too many.” He then said that the umpire should have recognized “that’s when you got to maybe give her a water or take her out.”

In his career, Kyrgios has received $800,000 Australian dollars ($544,000USD) in fines, making him far and away the most-fined player in world tennis history. John McEnroe might have been the original bad boy of tennis, but Nick Kyrgios has knocked him off his perch as the baddest boy out there.