Nick Kyrgios clarifies his ‘ATP is pretty corrupt’ comment

Shahida Jacobs
Nick Kyrgios

Nick Kyrgios has done some backtracking on his “the ATP is pretty corrupt ” comment, saying he wanted to highlight the “double standards rather than corruption”.

The Australian again hit the headlines for the wrong reasons after his win over Steve Johnson in the first round of the US Open as he didn’t hold back during a post-match interview.

Kyrgios was asked about his $113,000 (about £93,000) fine for his outburst against chair umpire Fergus Murphy at the Cincinnati Masters.

On Wednesday he was quizzed about the punishment and replied: “The ATP is pretty corrupt anyway. I’m not fussed about it at all.

“I was fined $113K for what? Why are we talking about something that happened three weeks ago when I just chopped up someone first round of a US Open?”

The ATP has confirmed that it launched an investigation and is reviewing the case under the “major offence” rule, which could earn the world No 30 either another fine and/or a suspension.

Kyrgios then took to Twitter to admit his choice of words were poor.

“I would like to go on record to clarify my comment about the ATP being corrupt,” he wrote.

“It was not the correct choice of words and my point and intention was to address what I see as double standards rather than corruption.

“I know my behaviour at times has been controversial and that has landed me in trouble, which at times is granted and valid.

“But my issue is around others, whether gaining the same, less or more media attention doing the same or similar and not being sanctioned.

“To be clear, I know I’m not perfect and do not pretend to be and I acknowledge I’ve deserved fines and sanctioning at times, but I expect consistency and fairness across the board. To date that’s not happened.

“I’ve had huge support from [ATP chief executive] Chris Kermode and given it in return, so I want to clarify my comments, but stand by my beliefs and sentiment around double standards.”

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