Rafa Nadal has been involved in extraordinary scenes at the Australian Open where his opponent claimed: “You guys are all corrupt.”
And Nick Kyrgios hit a young fan when he carelessly hit a ball into the crowd during his doubles match.
American Madison Keys is the first woman through to the semi-finals while there has been a change in policy over Peng Shuai T-shirts at the Grand Slam
Denis Shapovalov is not allowing Rafa through without a fight
In the battle of the last two left-handers in the men’s draw, Shapovalov has just taken the third set in a brilliant match. But that is not the whole story as the Canadian has clashed twice with umpire Carlos Bernardes.
First, at the start of the second set, the world No.14 complained that the Spaniard was taking too much time to get ready to receive his serve – and demanded the Brazilian umpire penalised Nadal.
Shapovalov said: “You started the clock 45 seconds ago – he is still not ready to play. He is still not ready to play. You have got to code him.”
Bernardes responded: “You’re not ready to play either because you came to speak to me.”
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As Shapovalov returned to the baseline, he said: “You guys are all corrupt.You guys are all corrupt.”
Channel 9 TV commentator Jim Courier said: “That is not going to ingratiate him to the chair umpire either. He is not making any friends out here.”
Then at the start of Nadal’s next service game Shapovalov put his hands up in the air and pulled away before Nadal’s service action. He claimed the 2009 champion had again taken too much time but he was looking at the wrong clock.
But riled Bernardes said: “Why are you looking at me. They have eight seconds left to play. What do you want. Why do you look at me – we have the shot clock for this.”
Shapovalov then approached the net and exchanged words with Nadal.
Players are allowed two minutes between sets and 25 seconds between points.
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Kyrgios is always news
The doubles semi-final quarter-final between the Special Ks of Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis against No.6 seeds Tim Puetz of Germany and Kiwi Michael Venus knocked Nadal off the main Channel 9 tennis coverage today.
Kokkinakis was given a time penalty by umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore.
Then in the fourth game, following a let serve from his partner, Kyrgios casually smashed his volley from the return into the ground and into the stomach of a boy watching in the KIA Arena.
Kyrgios raised his hand in apology and put his hand on his mouth.
As the umpire went to check on the boy, Kyrgios went to his chair and offered a racket as an apology to huge applause from the crowd.
Madison Keys is back in the big time – and in a different restaurant tonight
The 2017 US Open runner-up is the first player into the women’s semis after seeing off French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova 6-3 6-2.
The American has slid down to world No.51 after a terrible 2021 where she struggled with a foot injury and Covid.
But the foodie, who reached her first Major semi-final here in 2015 when she lost to Serena Williams, has never lost her appetite for haute cuisine wherever she goes. And like her game, she likes to mix it up.
“I am a little bit nuts where I am not superstitious where I can never do the same thing twice,” said Keys.
“If that is not is crazy and superstitious in a totally different way. I have to go somewhere different virtually every single night. I keep getting lots of recommendations – people walking by me and shouting restaurant names at me so keep it up so I can figure out to go.”
Peng Shuai U-turn from Australian Open
Tennis Australia initially defended security for ordering a fan to remove a T-shirt and banner in support of the Chinese tennis player. Martina Navratilova described that decision as “weak” and “cowardly”.
Now the TA chief Craig Tiley, who tried to get Novak Djokovic into the tournament without a vaccine, has claimed supporters are free to wear, “Where is Peng Shuai?” shirts Open but they must not become “disruptive”,
He said: “Unfortunately I think there’s a lot of miscommunication and lack of understanding on it, because it’s not just a one line response,” Tiley told Reuters by telephone.
Someone wearing a T-shirt saying something is not going to have any impact on the safety. But when they start getting together as a group, as a mob, and start being disruptive, in any way or form, that’s a different thing.
“If they’re coming in to do what everyone else is doing — to enjoy the tennis– and if they’ve got a T-shirt on that says, ‘Where is Peng Shuai?’, that’s fine.”
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