And here I thought they didn’t allow on-court coaching at Slams.
The heck is Lahyani doing giving a player a pep talk? #USOpen pic.twitter.com/0i0zwMaIe8 — Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) August 30, 2018
Lahyani’s behavior was immediately criticized. “If I was the coach of Herbert, I would be absolutely furious” ESPN’s Darren Cahill said on air.Here’s what led to the umpire telling him to try pic.twitter.com/dFia7Wvkug
— Eric Hubbs (@BarstoolHubbs) August 30, 2018
“He may be getting a suspension. He may,” ESPN’s John McEnroe said on air.
Kyrgios said on court that “[Herbert] let me back in that second set,” and downplayed the idea that Lahyani should be penalized. “I don’t believe that he deserves it,” he said. “I mean, the umpire in Shanghai didn’t cop any backlash. It happened to me in Cincinnati two weeks ago against [Juan Martin] Del Potro, the exact same thing happened. I wasn’t putting forth my best performance. “I did the same today. The umpire was like, Nick, you can’t be doing this. It’s a bad look. Same thing happened there. I’d be disappointed, yeah, for sure.” Kyrgios will face five-time champion Roger Federer in the third round on Saturday after Federer topped Benoit Paire, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4. “It’s always fun to play Roger,” Kyrgios said. “I’m looking forward to it. Obviously exciting, I have nothing to lose. But I’m going to go out there and compete my ass off.” Said Federer: “I think we enjoy playing against each other. It’s a big challenge. He’s got one of the best serves in the game and he’s super-talented and he’s a nice guy off the court so I’m looking forward to the game.” Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter And like ZAGS on FacebookThe @usopen statement on Kyrgios/Lahyani mentions no punishment pic.twitter.com/GTm94Jgtx3
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) August 30, 2018