Nick Kyrgios rants throughout Wimbledon final, to add to his list of biggest on-court controversies

Michael Graham
10 July 2022

Nick Kyrgios is one of the most talented tennis players in the world. He is also one of the most flawed, as the following roll of shame shows.

It's fair to say that Nick Kyrgios had an eventful Wimbledon. He has already been fined multiple times, been accused of being an 'evil bully' and, through it all, got himself into the final - where he grumbled, shouted and swore constantly throughout.

On top of of his 4-6 6-3 6-4 7-6 (3) defeat on Centre Court, he now has a fresh controversy hanging over him, having been ordered to report to the Magistrate Court in Canberra next month to answer allegations of domestic violence.

All this may sound like a bit of a wild ride, but the truth is that with Nick Kyrgios it is all pretty much par for the course.

Here are some of the most controversial on-court moments of the supremely talented yet deeply flawed tennis star.

Wimbledon 2015

In 2015 Nick Kyrgios returned to Wimbledon, where he had made his name the previous year as a Rafael Nadal-beating debutant.

This time he didn't really enamour himself to the All-England Club, though. In the first round he was caught saying "dirty scum", but he insisted it was directed at himself and not opponent Diego Schwartzman.

In round two he argued with the chair umpire, asking him: "Does it feel good to be up there in that chair? Does it feel strong to be up in the chair?"

In round three he went one better again, this time smashing a racket and arguing with a female spectator. He was then accused of tanking, which is the term for deliberately losing, in round four and was booed off the court by spectators.

Montreal 2015

We are all familiar with Thanasi Kokkinakis, yes? He was Nick Kyrgios' doubles partner when he won the Australian Open title and lost to Novak Djokovic in the second round of this year's Wimbledon.

Well, at Montreal in 2015 Kyrgios got himself in some serious hot water by telling opponent Stan Wawrinka that his girlfriend had also been familiar with Kokkinakis.

"Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend," he told Wawrinka during the match. "Sorry to tell you that, mate."

That one got him a 28-day suspended ban as well as a $25,000 fine from the ATP.

Stan Wawrinka says his feud with Nick Kyrgios is over, as he looks to establish himself at the top of the rankings pic.twitter.com/EC1tvaeZxi
— 7SportAU (@7SportStandby) December 29, 2016

Shanghai 2016

As mentioned above, Kyrgios has been accused of 'tanking' before, but in 2016 he made it so obvious he was actually fined for it.

"Can you call time so I can finish this match and go home?" he asked the umpire during the match.

When he was later asked if he felt he had short-changed paying supporters, Kyrgios was unrepentant.

"What does that even mean? I'm good at hitting a tennis ball at the net. Big deal. I don't owe them anything. If you don't like it, I didn't ask you to come watch. Just leave."

Fines totalling $32,900 and an eight-week ban was his punishment for that little stunt.

Acapulco 2017

As part of his punishment for what happened in Shanghai, Kyrgios agreed to see a psychologist. It didn't appear to help much.

In one of his first tournaments back after his ban, he was facing Dudi Sela in Acapulco and got himself into heated arguments with the Israeli's fans.

Kyrgios paused his serve to tell them to "shut the f*** up", leading to a post-match confrontation between him and Sela at the net which required the umpire to break it up.

Queen's 2018

By the time Kyrgios arrived at Queen's in 2018, the goodwill he had earned with British fans from his debut Wimbledon appearance had all but eroded.

During a match with Marin Cilic, he was caught by cameras making what could only really be described as lewd gestures involving a water bottle.

It landed him a $15,000 fine, and while he accepted he was in the wrong over the gesture, he took issue with the size of the fine.

"Let's get that water bottle thing clear, it was bad and I shouldn't have done it with kids watching so make sure you put it in the article.

"My girlfriend will kill me if I don't apologise and it was unacceptable," he said. "But Denis Shapovalov gets fined $5k for hitting an umpire in the eye and sending him to hospital. I get fined $15k for playing with a water bottle."

Rome 2019

There was nothing new about the sight of Nick Kyrgios raging on a tennis court by the time the 2019 Italian Open came around, yet he still managed to produce something truly shocking.

In a second-round match against Casper Ruud, Kyrgios swore at a line judge. He had already received two code violations in the match, and that meant a game penalty. It didn't go down well with the Australian.

**smashes racket**
**kicks water bottle**
**throws chair**

Rough day for Nick Kyrgios at the Italian Open. pic.twitter.com/7pHQDjFqe6
— ESPN (@espn) May 16, 2019

He threw down his racket, kicked a water bottle and then threw a chair onto the court. He didn't even wait to be defaulted. In fact he simply told the umpire "I'm done", picked up his bag and walked off the court.

"Very eventful day to say the least," he said on social media afterwards. "Emotions got the better of me and I just wanted to say that the atmosphere was crazy out there today, just super unfortunate that it had to end in a default. Sorry Roma, see you again, maybe."