COACH LAHYANI: MOHAMED MAKES U.S. OPEN HEADLINES WITH PEP TALK TO KYRGIOS • ALIZE CORNET AND “SHIRTGATE” TOO

Written by: Staff on 30th August 2018

COACH LAHYANI: MOHAMED MAKES U.S. OPEN HEADLINES WITH PEP TALK TO KYRGIOS • ALIZE CORNET AND "SHIRTGATE" TOO

epa06979842 Nick Kyrgios of Australia hits a return to Radu Albot of Moldova on the second day of the US Open Tennis Championships the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 28 August 2018. The US Open runs from 27 August through 09 September. EPA-EFE/COREY SIPKIN |

Nick Kyrgios of Australia hits a return to Radu Albot of Moldova on the second day of the US Open Tennis Championships the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 28 August 2018. The US Open runs from 27 August through 09 September. EPA-EFE/COREY SIPKIN

By Ricky Dimon

Move over Alize Cornet. The U.S. Open headlines now belong to Mohamed Lahyani.

With Cornet’s shirt-gate in the rear-view mirror, the season’s final major brewed up another controversy on Thursday afternoon. During a third-round match Court 17 between Nick Kyrgios and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Lahyani descended from his chair for a face-to-face meeting with Kyrgios as the Aussie trailed by a set and a break midway through the second.

An virtual pep talk broke out.

“I want to help you,” Lahyani told Kyrgios, who clearly wasn’t giving anywhere near his best effort at the time. “I want to help you. I’ve seen your matches: you’re great for tennis. Nick, I know this is not you.”

The 23-year-old insisted the talk did not help him, even though the trajectory of the match would suggest otherwise (Kyrgios trailed 6-4, 3-0 at the time and ended up winning 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3, 6-0).

“I’m not sure it was encouragement,” Kyrgios explained. “He said he liked me. I’m not sure if that was encouragement. He just said that it’s not a good look. Look, I wasn’t feeling good. I know what I was doing out there wasn’t good. I wasn’t really listening to him, but I knew it wasn’t a good look. It didn’t help me at all. Like, I (eventually) was down 5-2. If it was 3-0 and maybe if I would have come back and won six games in a row, fair enough. Didn’t help me at all.

“For sure,” Kyrgios answered when asked if Lahyani would incur some kind of punishment for his actions. “I don’t believe that he deserves it. I mean, the umpire in Shanghai didn’t cop any backlash. It happened to me in Cincinnati two weeks ago against 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’ reward is a blockbuster third-round showdown against Roger Federer, who was naturally asked about the situation following his straight-set victory over Benoit Paire.

“It’s not the umpire’s role to go down from the chair,” Federer commented. “But I get what he was trying to do. He behaves the way he behaves. You as an umpire take a decision on the chair: do you like it or don’t you like it? But you don’t go and speak like that, in my opinion.

“I don’t know what he said; I don’t care what he said. It was not just about, How are you feeling? Oh, I’m not feeling so well.’ Go back up to the chair. He was there for too long. It’s a conversation. Conversations can change your mindset. It can be a physio, a doctor, (or) an umpire for that matter.”

As for Mohamed’s reward, it appears as if he is off the hook. The following is a statement issued by the USTA shortly after the match:

“After the third game of the second set in the Kyrgios-Herbert match on Court 17, with Kyrgios down 0-3, Chair Umpire Mohamed Lahyani, left his chair to check on the condition of Nick Kyrgios. He came out of the chair because of the noise level in the Stadium during the changeover to make sure he could communicate effectively with Kyrgios.

“Lahyani was concerned that Kyrgios might need medical attention. Lahyani told Kyrgios that if he was feeling ill, that the tournament could provide medical help. He also informed Kyrgios that if his seeming lack of interest in the match continued, that as the chair umpire, he would need to take action. He again suggested to Kyrgios that he could receive medical attention.

At the next changeover, Kyrgios down 1-4, received treatment from the physio.”

There may not be any tangible repercussions in the wake of this controversy, but you can be sure about this: Lahyani won’t be in the chair for Federer vs. Kyrgios and whoever is in the chair won’t be giving Kyrgios won’t be giving Kyrgios any mid-match pep talks.

After all, Kyrgios won’t need one. Not against Fed. He’ll be just as hyped for it as the rest of us.