French Open: Nick Kyrgios rankled by code violation for shouting at ball boy in first round win

The Australian launched his campaign with a 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory over Marco Cecchinato

Kyrgios completed his victory after two hours and 21 minutes (Getty)

In an ever-changing world it is good to know that there are two things in tennis on which you can usually rely. Firstly, the opening week at Roland Garros – and especially the first day – is almost invariably marked by cold and wet weather. Secondly, where Nick Kyrgios treads, controversy is usually not far behind.

Both theories were borne out here as the French Open got under way. Given the early-morning downpours and an ominous weather forecast, it was surprising that nearly four hours of play was possible before players and spectators were sent scurrying for cover. For much of that time, nevertheless, there had been drizzle in the air, making the conditions especially slow and heavy.

The rain, however, could not dampen the fire inside Kyrgios, who launched his campaign with a 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory over the Italian, Marco Cecchinato, who was playing his first match in a Grand Slam tournament. The 21-year-old Australian, who generally struck the ball well without quite finding his best form, had some heated exchanges with the umpire, Carlos Ramos.

Kyrgios’ blood rose when he was given a code violation in the tie-break at the end of the first set after shouting at a ball-boy as he asked for his towel. Kyrgios told the umpire that he had raised his voice because of the noise inside Court One, which is also known as “the bull ring”.

The Australian asked Ramos what rules he had been breaking and complained of “unbelievable bias”. Kyrgios compared what he had done with an incident at the Rome Masters earlier this month, when Novak Djokovic pushed away the arm of Carlos Bernardes after the umpire had come on the court to inspect a ball mark. Touching match officials is usually regarded as a serious offence in tennis.

“How can you sit there and give me a code for that?” Kyrgios asked Ramos. “But when Djokovic pushes an umpire out of the way that's all right? Tell the whole world that's all right.”

Kyrgios went on to win the tie-break 8-6 and then took the second set tie-break by the same margin. The Australian did not break serve until the third set, after which he completed his victory after two hours and 21 minutes.

At his post-match press conference the code violation still appeared to rankle with Kyrgios. “Every time I get a towel from a ball kid I say thank you,” he said. “Sometimes when you’re a bit frustrated you don’t obviously scream at them, but you do get a little mad at them. For me that time I didn’t get mad at all. I just said it a little bit loud. The crowd was going on. And if we’re going to play by the rules, you have 20 seconds in between points, so I’m not going to wait for the crowd to quieten down to get my towel. I just felt like it was a bit rough.”

But when Djokovic pushes an umpire out of the way that's all right? Tell the whole world that's all right.

&#13; <p>Kyrgios to umpire Carlos Ramos</p>&#13;

Kyrgios was asked about the Djokovic incident in Rome. “I think we all know in this room if that was me that did that, it would be an absolute circus,” he said. He said the fact that nothing had happened to Djokovic “speaks for itself”.

Kyrgios said he was pleased with how he had kept his focus after the incident with Ramos. “I thought I dealt with it OK,” he said. “It didn’t put me off too much. Of course it’s frustrating, but I think with someone like me that’s pretty emotional it can frustrate me a little bit, but I felt like I dealt with it pretty well. I thought my focus in that first set was obviously very crucial to win in a best-of-five match.”

The Australian was also involved in one or two disputed line calls. He thinks that Hawk-Eye cameras should be used on clay courts, as they are on the bigger tournaments played on other surfaces.

“I think you should just have Hawk-Eye - maybe not on all the courts but maybe on the main ones. There have been a couple of calls in the last couple of weeks that have been really close. I have seen pictures, seen the Hawk-Eye and it’s actually in. I don’t think it can hurt having Hawk-Eye.”

Nevertheless the Australian seems to have been making efforts this year to clean up his act after the controversial incidents in which he was involved last year, most notably his sledging of Stan Wawrinka.

When asked if he felt umpires were treating him equally, a conciliatory Kyrgios said: “I haven’t had too many bad experiences. It’s not an easy job out there to concentrate, especially in five-set matches. All in all, I think they do a good job.”