Australian Open: Questions arise over whether Nick Kyrgios should have been defaulted after accidentally hitting a child with the ball

Nick Kyrgios accidentally hit a child in the stands during his quarterfinal doubles encounter at the Australian Open on Tuesday. But the Aussie wasn't defaulted from the match over the incident, unlike Novak Djokovic two years ago at the US Open.

Kyrgios, teaming up with his good friend Thanasi Kokkinakis in doubles at this year's event, was positioned at the net when he deliberately smashed a dead ball off a first serve fault. The ball, however, bounced very high after it hit the ground, going all the way into the stands and striking a small child in the stomach.

All the players on the court immediately stopped play to check on the child, who could be seen crying.

Nick Kyrgios himself seemed distraught by the incident, as evidenced by his reaction. The Aussie scrambled for a solution and ended up gifting the child's family his new racket.

But while Kyrgios eventually managed to make it up to the innocent kid, many on social media noted that he shouldn't have endangered the crowd like that in the first place.

Not long ago, at the 2020 US Open, Novak Djokovic hit a lineswoman during his fourth-round match, which prompted the organizers to default him from the tournament. The Serb swiped at a ball to release his frustration, unfortunately clocking a line judge right in her face.

Just like Kyrgios, the World No. 1 hit the ball with a lot of pace, which caused plenty of discomfort to the lady.

While it was clear that Djokovic never intended to hurt the lineswoman, the optics coupled with the letter of the law forced the US Open organizers to disqualify the Serb. But Kyrgios, after committing a similar offense, didn't even receive so much as a warning from the Australian Open officials.

Even though the 26-year-old didn't intend to target the fans in the crowd, his actions were clearly very reckless.

According to the ITF rulebook, if the officials find a player to be guilty of ball abuse to a degree that it threatens the safety of anyone in the arena, they are free to impose additional penalties on the player. The section concerning ball abuse reads as follows:

"Players shall not violently, dangerously or with anger hit, kick or throw a tennis ball within the precincts of the tournament site except in the reasonable pursuit of a point during a match (including warm-up). Violation of this Section shall subject a player to fine up to $20,000 for each violation."

"In addition, if such violation occurs during a match (including the warm-up), the player shall be penalized in accordance with the Point Penalty Schedule hereinafter set forth. For the purposes of this Rule, abuse of balls is defined as intentionally hitting a ball out of the enclosure of the court, hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the consequences."

A provision for an immediate default is also mentioned in the letter of the law, provided the tournament officials agree with the severity of the offense.

"The Referee in consultation with the Grand Slam Chief of Supervisors may declare a default for either a single violation of this Code or pursuant to the Point Penalty Schedule set out above," the statute reads.

In that context, it is unclear why Nick Kyrgios got away without any penalty on Tuesday. Some fans believe that Kyrgios being a home player weighed in his favor, but there has been no explanation to that effect from the officials.

Here are some of the tweets questioning the inconsistency in the application of the rules between Djokovic and Kyrgios:

Nick Kyrgios had claimed in 2020 that he would've been 'banned' from tennis for accidentally hitting a ball kid

Nick Kyrgios (L), Lleyton Hewitt and Novak Djokovic (R)

Novak Djokovic was the cynosure of all eyes when he accidentally hit the lineswoman at Flushing Meadows in 2020, and the Serb ended up paying a high price for it too. It should also be noted that the umpire overseeing Djokovic's match had to call the USTA officials for a solution, who found a fair few discrepancies in Djokovic's case before they defaulted him.

Nick Kyrgios was perhaps very lucky that it didn't occur to the referee to call the Australian Open organizers for a deeper evaluation of the incident.

Incidentally, Kyrgios had taken to social media back in 2020 to ask fans what his punishment would have been had he been in Djokovic's shoes. The Aussie, who has frequently taken jibes at Djokovic in the past, seemed to suggest that he would've been handed a much more severe penalty - a ban from the sport - in such a situation.

As it turns out, however, Kyrgios was wrong about that assumption. While Djokovic got disqualified from the tournament for hitting a person with the ball, the Aussie escaped any kind of sanction.

Kyrgios put aside the incident quickly enough on Tuesday, as he and Kokkinakis played some entertaining tennis to beat Tim Puetz and Michael Venus and reach the semifinals. The local favorites will next face the third-seeded team of Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers, for a place in the championship match.

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