Australian Nick Kyrgios apologised for losing his temper after his defeat at the hands of Rafa Nadal at Indian Wells and for smashing his racket into the ground, which then bounced and nearly struck a ball boy.
The ball boy was able to duck out of the way and Kyrgios was then booed by some in the crowd following his 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 loss to Spaniard Nadal on Thursday.
"I just want to apologise to that ball kid at the end of the match," Kyrgios wrote on Instagram. "It was a complete accident and was frustrated at the end of the match.
"My racket took a crazy bounce and was never my intention. If anyone knows who that ball kid is, send me a message and I will send a racket to him. I'm glad he's OK!"
Kyrgios tracked down the ball boy on social media, who accepted the apology, saying he was "completely fine" and looking forward to getting his hands on a racket.
The 26-year-old Kyrgios was initially defensive when asked about the incident after the match, berating a reporter for focussing on it after a blockbuster quarter-final clash.
"What would you like me to say about it?," he said. "Obviously, was that my intention? No. Because I threw the racket. Did I throw the racket anywhere near him originally? It landed a metre from my foot and skidded and nearly hit him.
"I'm human. Things happen like that. Obviously it was a very misfortunate bounce. I think if I did that a million times over it wouldn't have gone that way."
Nadal said last week that the sport needed to impose stiffer penalties to curb outbursts, after Alexander Zverev received one-year probation - but no immediate suspension - following an expletive-filled tantrum in Acapulco.
The 24-year-old German Olympic champion apologised after he was defaulted for "unsportsmanlike conduct" after he smashed his racket against the umpire's chair and verbally abused him.
"Because this situations are happening more and more often, probably ATP should review things and make decisions," Nadal said after Thursday's match.
"Not about today's match because I didn't see what happened in the end, so I can't have an opinion ... I hope nothing too bad happened because I wish [Kyrgios] the best.
"But if it's bad, the ATP need to make decisions to avoid that and to stop that because sometimes, even if it's very unlucky or unfortunate, going right in that moment that something negative will happen."
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
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Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Fringe@Four Line-up
October 1 - Phil Nichol (stand-up comedy)
October 29 - Mandy Knight (stand-up comedy)
November 5 - Sinatra Raw (Fringe theatre)
November 8 - Imah Dumagay & Sundeep Fernandes (stand-up comedy)
November 13 - Gordon Southern (stand-up comedy)
November 22 - In Loyal Company (Fringe theatre)
November 29 - Peter Searles (comedy / theatre)
December 5 - Sinatra’s Christmas Under The Stars (music / dinner show)
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
Types of fraud
Phishing: Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
Smishing: The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
Vishing: The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
SIM swap: Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
Identity theft: Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
Prize scams: Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
* Nada El Sawy
The biog:
Languages: Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, basic Russian
Favourite food: Pizza
Best food on the road: rice
Favourite colour: silver
Favourite bike: Gold Wing, Honda
Favourite biking destination: Canada
The biog
Favourite hobby: taking his rescue dog, Sally, for long walks.
Favourite book: anything by Stephen King, although he said the films rarely match the quality of the books
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption stands out as his favourite movie, a classic King novella
Favourite music: “I have a wide and varied music taste, so it would be unfair to pick a single song from blues to rock as a favourite"
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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