Novak Djokovic was given a time violation in his latest match at the 2024 Australian Open, and Nick Kyrgios was left unimpressed.
The Serbian was outstanding in his third-round match in Melbourne. Djokovic played his best match of the tournament so far to comfortably defeat his Argentine opponent Tomas Martin Etcheverry in straight sets.
Kyrgios was in the commentary box for the contest. The 2022 Wimbledon runner-up is doing commentary and punditry work while he is still sidelined from a long-term issue with his knee.
That injury has caused the Australian to only play one match in the last 12 months, which was a failed comeback attempt in Stuttgart ahead of Wimbledon. There are reports that Kyrgios will try to return for this year's grass court season.
This is not the first Djokovic match that the 28-year-old has covered at the Australian Open. That may be partly due to the friendship between the two, with Kyrgios saying their relationship overcame a rocky start to be in the strong place it is now.
Their relationship also makes it unsurprising that Kyrgios was left unhappy when he thought Djokovic had been wronged. In the video, the 24-time Grand Slam champion is at the line about to serve, but the umpire then gives him a time violation.
Although the shot clock had reached zero, Kyrgios became animated in the commentary box. He called the umpire's decision "not necessary" and "ridiculous" on two occasions immediately after the call was made.
Kyrgios then said he felt like the umpires sometimes make that kind of calls because they get bored from just calling the score. The Australian's view may be more credible among some since automated line calling was introduced, which has given umpires less work.
"Not necessary, ridiculous! Just ridiculousness! It’s like they get bored and they just want to say something instead of the score, like ridiculous. It completely ruins the flow of the match. It just gave him [Djokovic] more time to compose himself."
This latest incident is another reminder of how incredibly the relationship between Djokovic and Kyrgios has shifted in the last couple of years.
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