Go easy on Kyrgios umpire

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Milking it: Nick Kyrgios is known for his temper tantrums.

Photo: John Shakespeare

And while Roger Federer was right to say – when consulted on the issue – that “conversations can change your mindset”, it is also true that anything can change a player’s mindset. A shout from the crowd, a code-violation warning, a seagull feather floating down and interrupting a second serve. Tennis is a game of tiny margins and matches often turn on a single incident.

While sport might aspire to a Platonic ideal of fairness, it never achieves it. Every top rugby referee spends his afternoons telling players not to transgress. To keep the game moving, these officials are constantly intervening to save players from themselves – rather as Lahyani did on Thursday.

From the fans’ perspective, you could argue that he was doing the US Open a favour. Who would want to have missed out on tonight’s marquee showdown between Federer and Kyrgios – a matchup that, in three previous instalments, has never failed to reach a deciding-set battle?

Kyrgios was clearly the superior player, once he had got over his childish sulk, and Federer v Herbert would hardly have had the same ring.

Article source: http://smh.com.au/nsw/woman-25-found-dead-in-alley-near-chatswood-train-station-20171008-gywrz5.html