Tennis remains one of those sports that prides itself on a sense of decorum, but Ozzie Nick Kyrgios has never been much bothered with all of that.

The last time we featured Nick, he was simulating a sex act with a water bottle mid-match, but at least he was trying to win.

During yesterday’s match against Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Nick pulled his usual antics. Down a set, and 0-2 down in the second, with a paying crowd watching on, he just couldn’t be arsed.

Look at his failure to even attempt to reach the serve:

Here’s what led to the umpire telling him to try pic.twitter.com/dFia7Wvkug

— Eric Hubbs (@BarstoolHubbs) August 30, 2018

No man – sies.

Of course we have seen this from Kyrgios before, but it’s what happened next that really caused controversy.

For some reason, the chair umpire, Mohamed Lahyani, decided to give him a pep talk, even though coaching of any sort is forbidden in between games.

Never seen this before. Umpire had to get out of his chair and beg Nick Kyrgios to start trying in his match. pic.twitter.com/nk9k56yTrB

— Eric Hubbs (@BarstoolHubbs) August 30, 2018

NewsAU with some of the exchange:

“I want to help you. I want to help you,” Lahyani said. “I’ve seen your matches: you’re great for tennis.

“Nick, I know this is not you.”

Oh, but it is.

The Ozzie rebounded to win the set, and the match, 4-6 7-5 6-3 6-0, and many in the tennis community weren’t happy.

The first backlash has to with Lahyani’s behaviour:

The US Open put out an official statement on the matter, but all it did was describe what took place — only, not very accurately. While people called for Lahyani to be yanked immediately from the match, the statement refused to address whether the umpire was in the wrong or what would happen next to address the matter.

The problem here is that in some of the videos doing the rounds, you can clearly hear the umpire encouraging Kyrgios.

His French opponent was less than impressed:

“The umpire doesn’t need to talk to him. This was not his job,” Herbert [pictured below] said. “He’s not a coach, he’s an umpire and he should stay in his chair for that.

“They can tell him from the chair. He doesn’t need to go down. He doesn’t need to say the words he said on the video. I think this was not his job.

“I don’t think he has to go down and take the position of a coach like you can see on the WTA Tour.

“It’s not his job.”

…“After seeing the video I am angry against the umpire,” Herbert said. “He should not go down of his chair and try to reason (with) Nick.

“I am even more upset against the statement of the USTA that is clearly taking us for fools.”

Here’s where the prince, Roger Federer, comes in. Kyrgios and the Swiss maestro will square off in the third round, and Roger is upset.

Sadly, he’s angry at the umpire:

“It’s not the umpire’s role to go down from the chair,” Federer said. “I get what he was trying to do. He behaves the way he behaves and then you decide if you like it or you don’t like it.

“But you don’t go speak like that. I don’t know what he said, I don’t care what he said. It was not just about how you’re feeling, ‘Oh, I am not feeling well.’

“He was down there for too long. It was a conversation and conversations change mindsets. That’s why it won’t happen again and everybody knows that.”

Just make sure you crush the Ozzie in the third round, please.

As for the heckling that went on between Kyrgios and the crowd, who booed him at some stages of the match:

Admitting he won’t be the crowd favourite, there’s every chance Kyrgios will have to put up with hecklers — like he did against Herbert…

Kyrgios said he loves the interaction with fans, even when they’re against him.

“I love it. I love it. You know, when I was up 40-0 at the end, I put my ear to the crowd, just want to hear them boo again. I loved it,” he said.

I feel like David Warner and Nick Kyrgios are cut from the same cloth.

After the match, in response to female tennis professional Donna Vekic, who tweeted “Didn’t know umpires were allowed to give pep talks”, he tweeted this:

He then deleted that response, before sending this out:

Roger, please, you know what to do.

[sources:newsau&espn]