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Nick Kyrgios seems to be rightly headed for another suspension of the men's tennis tournament.
He could also go very deep to this United States Open.
This puts the sport in a delicate position, but Kyrgios is constantly attached to his job and to himself, as he oscillates between brilliant and rude, without compassion and without intelligence.
No man outside the Big Three of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer generates as much buzz. You can say that no man, not even one of the Big Three, arouses so much interest from young fans that tennis desperately needs to reach if he wants to stay in the time spent on the screen.
But Kyrgios, 24, also regularly attacks the game in which he excels intermittently. His violations of the game's unwritten codes – showing his opponents with trick shots or free-kicks on the abdomen, as he did with Nadal at Wimbledon this year – can be an excellent theater.
Tennis needs personality contrasts. But Kyrgios is breaking the rules of the game, and his behavior on the field often lacks respect, not only for players, officials and his entourage, but also for sport.
This pattern, which is undeniably a model, has lasted long enough. He resurfaced this month in Cincinnati and resumed Tuesday night in a press conference after winning his opening match at the American Open.
Kyrgios deserves to be suspended again, for the second time in his career, and he is likely to be suspended again despite his box office and YouTube appeal.
So why no action has been taken yet?
The explanation is partly related to the fairness and the regularity of the procedure: it takes time to gather information and reach a final judgment. But the delay also concerns the divided governance of professional tennis.
For a niche sport, even global, there is a surplus of jurisdictions and leaders.
Kyrgios now faces two Investigations by the Tennis Professionals Association, either of which may result in a lengthy suspension if it is proven that he or she has committed a major offense under the circuit code of conduct.
The first investigation stems from his behavior during a second round defeat at the Open Western & Southern on August 14th. the chair umpire, Fergus Murphy, an audible obscenity and leave the field without permission during the match.
During this break, he broke two rackets. conclusion of the match – which was won by Karen Khachanov Kyrgios seemed to spit in Murphy's general direction.
ATP announced the fines and a major offense investigation the next day, but has not yet officially heard the Kyrgios version. Aware that the process could take a long time, ATP decided to wait until Kyrgios was eliminated from the American Open to focus on the upcoming tournament.
He was therefore free to play at the American Open without the American Open having to debate whether he would respect a ban imposed by the ATP Tour, a separate organization with separate officials.
But late on Tuesday night, after a stellar performance and a little more disappointing behavior in his two-set victory over Steve Johnson, Kyrgios was questioned at a press conference to find out if the tournament's heavy fin Ohio had affected him.
"Not at all," he says. "The ATP is still pretty corrupt, so I'm not worried about it at all."
Whereas the Kyrgios cloud was already under, it was a reckless statement, and the ATP reacted quickly on Wednesday. He announced that he would begin another investigation for a major offense, the one dealing with "conduct contrary to the integrity of the game".
Kyrgios quickly gave up using the word "corrupted" in a statement that he issued on Wednesday.
"It was not the right choice of words," he said. "My purpose and intention was to treat what I consider to be a double standard rather than corruption."
Without giving examples, Kyrgios suggested that other players had not been punished so severely for similar behavior.
"I'm not perfect and I do not pretend to be, and I acknowledge that I have earned fines and penalties at times, but I rely on fairness and consistency with all of this," he said. "To date, this has not happened."
The qualified retraction of Kyrgios could play in his favor in Gayle's investigation David Bradshaw, the ATP Vice President for rules and competition.
But Bradshaw and other tour managers have already shown considerable patience over the years and incidents.
They could have banned Kyrgios at length when he showed a lack of effort at the Shanghai Masters in October 2016, leaving the playing field halfway. Instead, he served a three-week suspension only after agreeing to use a psychological counselor and not missing any major tournaments.
He was repressed for some time and has not yet shown a similarly egregious lack of effort during a match, but his verbal aggression with officials and some spectators heckling continued.
Break a racket is not serious. Reaching directly and desecrating the integrity of a chair umpire, as he did with Murphy, is a more serious matter, especially when he has had so many opportunities. to take back in hand.
So what now?
Bradshaw could make a quicker decision on this last issue, and if Kyrgios continues at the Open, the decision could even happen as long as he's still playing here.
If the ATP actually suspends Kyrgios for a major offense – and his behavior seems to be right – Grand Slam leaders should decide whether or not to extend the ban to their own events. The same question would apply to the Laver Cup, a team event to be held in Geneva next month.
The brilliant Kyrgios was a star in the first two editions of the Laver Cup. Although the Cup has recently become an official part of the ATP Tour calendar, it is not technically an ATP event.
To go further, Kyrgios could win the US Open and the Laver Cup while suspended from the regular round.
It would make difficult moments. But despite his undeniable talent and his future charisma, such moments are also a specialty of Kyrgios.
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