Kyrgios banished from Wimbledon show courts after fan spitting incident
The Australian escaped a fine for an altercation with an abusive fan but will play his second round match against Filip Krajinovic on an outer court.
The Nick Kyrgios show at Wimbledon will not be televised, at least not on the main show courts on Thursday, after the organizers of the 2022 Championships decided to banish the Australian firebrand to the outer courts after his outbursts during and after his first-round win over British wildcard Paul Jubb. In a fiery encounter, that ended with a warm embrace between the players, Kyrgios asked that disruptive fans be removed, called a line judge a “snitch,” suggested others had bad eyesight because they “are in their 90s” and admitted spitting at one of his persecutors in the crowd.
Kyrgios: social media to blame for unruly fans
Kyrgios pointed to the abuse he regularly receives on Tour after the game and suggested tournament organisers should do more to root out hecklers, also blaming social media for fans believing that the line is no longer there between spectators and players. The Australian, who has been tipped to do deep at this year’s tournament, said he was regularly subjected to racial abuse on court and hate messages online.
“It’s got nothing to do with Wimbledon. I just think it’s a whole generation of people, like on social media, feeling like they have a right to comment on every single thing with negativity. It just carries on to real life,” he said in his post-match press conference.
Kyrgios faced a fine of up to $30,000 for spitting at a spectator but the All-England club elected instead to move his second-round match against Filip Krajinovic to Court 2, as reported by several Australian media, which is not considered one of the show courts and has picked up the nickname the “graveyard of the seeds” due to the number of upsets that have occurred there down the years.
The Australian is likely to face a hostile crowd on Court 2, with his antics not going terribly well in the rarified confines of the All-England Club. Should Kyrgios progress against Krajinovic, the 26 seed, he will play either Stefanos Tsitsipas or his compatriot Jordan Thompson in round three.