Tennis star Nick Kyrgios was in the second set of his second-round match against Benjamin Bonzi Wednesday evening at the U.S. Open. Out of the blue, he turned to the chair umpire and started complaining about a whiff of marijuana being in the air at Louis Armstrong Stadium, reports the New York Post.
Up a set and at 4-3 on serve in the second, Kyrgios asked the umpire to issue a warning to the crowd after claiming he saw and smelled someone smoking weed.
On the way to his bench during a changeover, the volatile 27-year-old petulantly sniped, “You don’t even want to remind anyone not to do it?”
“It Was Fucking Marijuana!”
The umpire seemed to think Kyrgios was complaining about the smell of food. That seemed to anger the entitled-feeling tennis star, but then again most things seemingly do.
“It was fucking marijuana,” Kyrgios shot back. “Obviously I’m not going to be complaining about food stuff. Obviously not.
Then the star returned to his marijuana rant. ”Obviously when athletes are running side-to-side and they have asthma already it’s probably not ideal.” (Kyrgios evidently is ignorant of the fact that Cannabis helps asthma. THC is an effective bronchodilator, i.e., it opens up airways.)
The umpire addressed the crowd as the two players returned to their baselines. “Ladies and gentlemen, a reminder that you cannot smoke on court.”
The US Open prohibits smoking within the confines of the entire grounds at Flushing Meadows, reports CBS Sports.
“People don’t know,” Kyrgios said after the match, perhaps dimly aware of his obnoxiousness. ”I’m a heavy asthmatic. When I’m running side to side, I’m struggling to breathe, probably not something I want to be breathing in, in between points.”
Maybe He Should Take A Toke
Given Kyrgios’ obvious anger issues, maybe a few tokes of kind bud would do him good.
In July, police charged Kyrgios for allegedly assaulting a former girlfriend. An Australian court scheduled that case for an October hearing. A Polish woman who’s also an attorney is suing him for defamation. Anna Palus brought the lawsuit after Kyrgios claimed she was drunk at Wimbledon. Kyrgios accused Palus of having “700 drinks.”
Umpires also warned Kyrgios during the match for swearing at someone on his team that he believed “wasn’t supporting him enough.”
