Nick Kyrgios slams Wimbledon chiefs after controversial incident on Centre Court, ‘it’s not good enough’

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Nick Kyrgios has been keeping close tabs on Wimbledon this year, having once again been ruled out of playing at the Grand Slam.

And as always, the tournament has not been short of controversy, with British player Sonay Kartal involved in the latest such incident at Wimbledon.

She met Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Centre Court in a round of 16 match, in which the electronic line-calling system failed.

There was no ‘out’ call despite a long effort from the home favourite at 4-4 in the first set, with Kartal going on to win the replayed point.

Wimbledon confirmed the electronic line-calling system was deactivated at the time, with their blushes spared somewhat after Pavlyuchenkova went on to win the match.

Nick Kyrgios slams Wimbledon chiefs after Centre Court controversy

Offering his take on the situation, 2022 Wimbledon runner-up Kyrgios said on talkSPORT: “It’s not good enough in my opinion.

“This is the greatest tournament that we have in the world and this is exactly why I thought that Wimbledon should not be trying to incorporate the electronic line calls.

READ MORE: Nick Kyrgios picks who he thinks is the favourite to win Wimbledon between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz

“I feel like they almost rushed it this year. They are playing for potentially millions of dollars out there and players have been playing their entire life to get to a point where they are playing at Wimbledon.

“They want everything to be absolutely perfect. For Wimbledon to come out and say the electronic line call machine was turned off is just not good enough.

“So I can completely understand the frustrations from Pavlyuchenkova but what happens if she does not win that first set and ends up losing the match? This is where the problems can really start happening. They should have just kept the line umpires.”

Nick Kyrgios says if he thinks British players are favoured at Wimbledon

Wimbledon has only just introduced electronic line-calling, which has coincided with the abolishing of line judges.

That has broken a 147-year tradition, with tennis fans unhappy with Wimbledon abolishing line judges when the decision was confirmed last year.

READ MORE: Pat Cash slams ‘mind boggling’ umpire decision at Wimbledon which he thought was ‘absolutely ridiculous’

That discussion with Kyrgios led to the Australian sharing his take on home players at Wimbledon after Kartal’s involvement in the Centre Court controversy.

WTA ace Kartal is currently the British number three, and certainly benefited from the umpire’s decision against Pavlyuchenkova.

Sharing his thoughts on whether British players are favoured at the grass court Grand Slam, Kyrgios said: “I honestly don’t think so.

“But this is probably the only sport in the world where home court advantage… if any other sport had home court advantage, the umpires kind of give some home court calls to the home team. So maybe there should be! But I don’t think so to be honest.”

Elsewhere regarding home players, Wimbledon favoured British players with its wildcards ahead of the event, having naturally had the power to allocate such places however it saw fit.

But all hopes in the singles event now rely solely on Cam Norrie, who like Kartal is the British number three.

But he has a very unenviable task ahead of him, with two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz up next.

Draper was shocked in the second round as Fearnley lost in round one, while women’s stars Raducanu and Boulter fell in rounds three and two respectively.