Australian Open news: Murray and Kyrgios unimpressed by Ronaldo chant

Australian Open
Delight for Andy Murray

A celebration invented by Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo found its way into the Australian Open on Tuesday – and Andy Murray and Nick Kyrgios were not impressed.

Ronaldo’s famous leap into the air after he scores goals is completed by a cry of “Sui”, which could be mistaken for boos in a tennis arena.

That is what Murray thought he was hearing as won his opening round match against Nikoloz Basilashvili, with the Scot admitting after the match he wasn’t impressed by the curiously supportive chants that came his way.

“Initially, I thought it was (booing), because there were some people booing during my practice yesterday,” stated Murray. “I have no idea what for. Yeah, so originally that’s what I thought it was.

“But then after a few times it was like, no, they’re doing that, I think it’s like ‘Siu’ or something that Ronaldo does when he scores. And, yeah, it was incredibly irritating.”

Kyrgios paid tribute to his fans after an entertaining win against Britain’s Liam Broady, but he admitted the “Siu” was not to his liking.

“I can’t believe they did it so much,” said the Aussie entertainer of the chant.

“They were doing some Ronaldo thing. Ronaldo does it every time he scores. I thought they were going to do it for like 10 minutes. They did it for two-and-a-half hours, like every point. I don’t know why, but I don’t know. It was a zoo out there.”

Kyrgios was more enthusiastic about his support from the home crowd, on a day when he produced a remarkable ‘tweener’ through the legs serve.

“I think that’s something I have kind of created on that court. They know what to expect,” he added after his straight sets victory against Broady.

“I think from the get-go, I know I’ve got the crowd in the palm of my hand, and any time I can use that to, you know, spark a moment or spark some energy. Liam is a great player but his experience on that court in that situation, when the crowd is going nuts, he has never experienced that before, hence the reason why on breakpoints I’m trying to get the crowd up, get him to feel the pressure a little bit more.

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“I think that’s the excitement of the people. You know, they haven’t seen much sport, haven’t been able to do much the last couple years. So the fact that they’re out, you know, able to see some of the best players in the world come out, they’re just excited to do things again. I could definitely feel they were just really ready to just, you know, get behind someone or something.”

Andy Murray Nick Kyrgios

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