TORONTO — Professional tennis star Nick Kyrgios was fined $10,000 after a match at the Rogers Cup, Wednesday, for insulting his opponent without using a tennis pun as required by ATP guidelines.
Kyrgios was overheard by court microphones telling opponent, Stan Wawrkinka, that his girlfriend had “banged” another tennis player. Though the Association of Tennis Professionals has no rules against vulgar comments, it does require players to use bawdy tennis puns in their taunts.
“Ball boy, love, swinging your racket — tennis has many words from which to draw for raunchy euphemisms. The ATP finds it unacceptable that Kyrgios chose a sexist insult with absolutely no cheeky wordplay,” said ATP chairman Chris Kermode.
Kyrgios has since publicly apologized for his remarks.
“I didn’t devote my life to tennis only to not be able to make a world-class tennis pun.”
