Four years ago, Nick Kyrgios reignited his career with a run to the SW19 final before falling to Novak Djokovic. But injuries soon dragged his momentum away and kept his career in the shadows, leading to his final Wimbledon appearance yesterday in doubles alongside Alexander Bublik. And even after ending up on the losing side, the Aussie still grabbed attention for a heated on-court exchange with the chair umpire.

“Honestly, at this point you can fine me, I honestly don’t even care,” the Aussie said while sitting beside the chair umpire yesterday. “Honestly, you can fine me, I don’t give a s***. All these rules are so dumb anyway,” he added.

The situation arose after their doubles opponents, Mate Pavic and Marcelo Arevalo, broke serve to go 1-0 up at the start of the second set. It was not clear what the chair umpire, Manuel Absolu, had said to trigger that reaction from the Aussie. Yet, after the exchange, the 31-year-old seemed frustrated but tried to reset himself. 

According to the rulebook of the Grand Slam, the former world No. 13 could now be facing a significant fine for swearing during the match. The punishment could be as severe as $50,000.

Still, that short on-court controversy was soon overshadowed by something much bigger. The former SW19 finalist stopped short of formally announcing his retirement after the pair lost 6-3, 6-4, but he admitted it was painful not being able to give his fans the level of tennis they once expected from him.

“I’d probably say pretty confidently [this was] my last Wimbledon,” Kyrgios said in the post-match interview. “Towards the end, just looking around and taking everything in, it was tough. I just feel body-wise and everything, it’d be hard to see myself coming back here again and competing.”

For the Aussie ace, he is not ready to retire from tennis altogether just yet. But one thing is sure: his body no longer seems capable of handling the demands of Grand Slam singles tennis.

For all the emotion around his likely farewell from the All-England Club, this was certainly not the first time his on-court rants had stolen the spotlight.

Nick Kyrgios fined $113,000 for violent conduct at Cincinnati Masters 

Kyrgios’ latest on-court rant at Court 17 brought back memories of one of the ugly episodes from his career. A very similar incident happened at the Cincinnati Masters in 2019, when the ATP Tour announced penalties against him. That fine arrived a day after the Aussie blasted chair umpire Fergus Murphy and then left the court to smash two rackets in the hallway during his loss to Karen Khachanov.

The ATP Tour later revealed the full breakdown of the punishment, as in total, Kyrgios was handed eight separate fines ranging from $3,000 to $20,000.

Those penalties were linked to several on-court violations during the match, including unsportsmanlike conduct, verbal abuse, and audible obscenity.

His history with fines at SW19 is not exactly clean either. Kyrgios was also punished 3 times during the 2022 Wimbledon. Two of those fines were for swearing. The last one came after the Aussie spat in the direction of a spectator, which added more controversy.

Altogether, the eight-time ATP tour-level winner was fined $10,000 during the 2022 SW19. Still, yesterday, when he was asked about the exchange with Absolu, Kyrgios tried to explain what he meant and where he stood on the matter.

“I never said that swearing should be allowed, and I just said some of the rules are a bit ridiculous. I stand by that. Whether or not all of the rules are, I think most of the rules are very traditional; they’re fine,” he added.

Now, with his All-England Club campaign over following the doubles loss, attention will turn to what happens next. His Kazakh partner will move on to face Kyrian Jacquet for a place in the next round today at Court 12, while Kyrgios waits to see how much yesterday’s latest incident will cost him.