The tennis player Nick Kyrgios (photo ©Carine06) has been imposed by the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) a 28-day ban and a $25,000 fine for his offense against Stan Wawrinka on August 13 during their match in the tournament in Montreal. This punishment has a conditional suspension, which means that will be enforced if over the next six months he gets punished again for physical and verbal abuses or if he accumulates fines to $5,000.
The Kyrgios case shook the tennis world but the ugly story provoked negative comments against the Australian player even by people who usually don’t follow the sport. Involving his colleague Thanasi Kokkinakis and especially Donna Vekic, Stan Wawrinka’s girlfriend, in a vulgar manner, brought strong criticism against Kyrgios, also because that was the worst but not the first of his bad behaviors on court.
After a $12,500 fine imposed on Nick Kyrgios immediately after the event, the ATP took some of time to decide on further sanctions, which now arrived. In the end, considering all that has happened, my impression is that they used against him the carrot and stick policy.
It was impossible not to impose further sanctions against Nick Kyrgios after all that has happened. The ATP vice-president Gayle David Bradshaw commented the new sanctions stating that it was an incident that reflected poorly on tennis. At the same time, Bradshaw stated that Kyrgios expressed regret and that the best outcome would be that he learns the lesson and understands that he is responsible to the tour and to fellow players for both his actions and his words.
Basically, now Kyrgios will be forced to behave well for the next six months to avoid the further fine and above nearly a month of ban. Considering the fact that the tennis season at those levels ends in November but he probably won’t participate in the ATP Finals he’ll actually have to keep quiet for about four months.
If really Kyrgios has learned his lesson, it may be acceptable that he has the opportunity to move on without disqualifications. However, if after the six months have expired he started again with unsportsmanlike behaviors I believe that the ATP should immediately suspend him for a few weeks, otherwise the association would lose credibility.
