Tennis – It has been confirmed that the suspended 28-day ban given to Nick Kyrgios will not be applied during the US Open.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) confirmed on Saturday that the Australian will be able to participate in the last Grand Slam of 2015 without any restrictions. Kyrgios was fined $25,000 (in addition to an earlier $10,000 fine) and handed a suspended 28-day ban for making a controversial comment during his match against Stan Wawrinka at the Rogers Cup. The 20-year-old was caught on camera saying “Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend, sorry to tell you that mate“.
Under the sanction, Kyrgios will be banned for 28 days if he conducted any more misbehaviour on the court from now until February 26th 2016 at any ATP tournament. The ban will not apply during the US Open because it is a Grand Slam event and not an ATP event. Recently Kyrgios told the media that he is not embarrassed about the incident.
“I guess I’ll just learn from it. I mean, obviously I wouldn’t do it again, but I wouldn’t say I was embarrassed by it at all. I’m not embarrassed by it.” He said.
In the first round Kyrgios will play third seed Andy Murray. He has already played the Brit twice in a Grand Slam this year, losing both of them in straight sets. Looking ahead to the match, Murray recently admitted that the Australian is at his best when playing in Grand Slams.
“I think he likes playing on big stages. That’s where he’s played his best tennis throughout his career. Last year he’d only won one or two matches outside of Slams in the whole year. This year, his results have been inconsistent, but at the Slams he made the quarters.” He said.
Kyrgios will begin his US Open campaign on Tuesday against the 2012 champion.
