Nick Kyrgios has defended Carlos Alcaraz after he was criticized for throwing his racquet during his loss to Tommy Paul at the National Bank Canadian Open in Toronto.
World No. 1 Alcaraz suffered a shock defeat to twelfth seed Paul in the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 event. The Spaniard struggled from the start, as the American broke his serve in the match's opening game. He then went on to commit four double faults and seven unforced errors, which allowed Paul to break him twice more and win the match 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
This came after fans had noticed that the two-time Grand Slam champion was having some difficulty in his previous matches. Despite winning against Hubert Hurkacz, Alcaraz lost the first set 6-3 and told the press afterward that he didn't know what had happened.
The frustration got too much for Alcaraz at one point during the match. After losing the first set due to a double fault, the 20-year-old threw his racquet toward his chair.
Following the outburst, fans shared their opinions on social media, with some saying that he should have received a code violation. One Twitter user captioned a video of the incident with the following:
"No code violations for boy wonder."
Meanwhile, another suggested that if it were Novak Djokovic, there would have been a punishment for the action:
"If it was Nole the crowd will boo him and the referee give him a code violation for 100%," they commented.
However, many fans were quick to defend Alcaraz, including the 2022 Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios. The 28-year-old has missed most of the 2023 season so far due to injury, but took to Twitter to give his opinion on the issue.
"Who the fu*k cares…. The dude is gonna be carrying the tennis load for the next decade.. good on him for showing he is human. Frustrated not playing up to standards," he wrote.
The Australian also suggested that umpires should be given codes:
"Also let’s start giving codes to umpires," he added.
Kyrgios was not the only one to defend the young player:
"I'm a Novak fan, but let's not attack Carlos for showing emotion. The umpires are at fault when they unfairly punish Novak. Focus on the umpires, not other players," commented one.
Who the fu*k cares…. The dude is gonna be carrying the tennis load for the next decade.. good on him for showing he is human. Frustrated not playing up to standards. Also let’s start giving codes to umpires 🥔
No code violations for boy wonder. 🤔pic.x.com/aqZqgW6B25
