Nick Kyrgios supported his colleague Daniil Medvedev against fan heckling not too long ago and now he got a chance to experience booing himself as fans booed him at the Cincinnati Masters.
Medvedev had a clash with a fan following his early exit from the Canadian Open a few days ago. A fan heckled Medvedev, to which the Russian responded before they talked it out, with the player initiating the conversation with the heckling fan.
Kyrgios defended Medvedev, explaining that fans can be quite out of line. He was certainly right because they can, and there are many proofs of that. When it comes to Kyrgios, he has experienced fan heckling as well.
Kyrgios didn’t really do anything particular to warrant being booed, but he didn’t play the match as fiercely as he could have. He was facing native player Taylor Fritz, who got most of the crowd support, but people expected a proper fight.
It wasn’t much of a fight as the American won 6-3, 6-2 in only 51 minutes. That’s not the type of match fans expected when they paid for the tickets, but it’s the match they got, and some weren’t happy with it.
Some light booing could be heard after the match ended, presumably towards Kyrgios, who played the match relatively casually. He didn't seem to be 100% fit, which might have contributed to him not playing as seriously as he could have or fans expected him to.
Kyrgios was coming off a long week in Canada, and he showed some signs of problems in his previous Cincinnati match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, even though he won that one in two sets.
Still, fans didn’t like it, which can be seen in the video below. Time will tell whether an injury really troubled him or not, but it wouldn't be great timing with the US Open literally around the corner.