In Montreal, August 12
Late at night against Stan Wawrinka in Montreal, Nick Kyrgios grew angry in the first set, screamed at a linesperson, and after he lost the tiebreak, he screaming, he threw his rackets, yelling and saying “This is f—ing bullshit!” It was, by him, all night long.
But he continued to be play fairly well. He still irritable and during the second set he said to Wawrinka, “[Thanasi] Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend, sorry to tell you that, mate.”
That was ridiculously obnoxious.
However, he went on to win the match, as Wawrinka retired down 6-7 6-3 4-0 with a back injury.
After the match was over, Kyrgios was asked why he said that about Wawrinka. “He was getting a bit lippy with me,” he told the broadcaster Sportsnet’s Arash Madani. “Kind of in the heat of the moment. I don’t know. I just said it.”
And then, Wawrinka coach, Magnus Norman, went after Kyrgios: “That was really, really low Nick Kyrgios.” Norman tweeted. “Hope for u that u have people around that will teach u a thing or 2 about life tonight. Very bad.”
After a couple of hours, Wawrinka went online, and he was furious.
“Disappointing to see a fellow athlete and colleague be so disrespectful in a way I could never even imagine. What was said I wouldn’t say to my worst enemy. To stop so low is not only unacceptable but also beyond belief…here is no need for this kind of behaviour on or off the court and I hope the governing body of this sport does not stand… for this and stands up for the integrity of this sport that we have worked so hard to build.”
Kyrgios should not have said that to Wawrinka on court, but really, so many people have disagreements about their boyfriends and girlfriends, and they will argue – it’s just off the court, not on the court.
Now, clearly he is a very good friend with Kokkinakis, so something happened with Wawrinka that upset him. Exactly why and to which girlfriend, we do not no, officially that is.
However, Nick’s mother, Nill, knows something differently, tweeting: ‘A sledge for a sledge…do your research before piping up like sheep!”
Now, the 20-year-old Kyrgios just simply cannot stop yelling and talking, but he is already a terrific player and if he can stay healthy and continue to improve, he could crack the top 10 by next year – or faster. However, he has to be much more mature or the fans are going to rip him on court every single day.
Without a doubt, his new ‘coach’ Lleyton Hewitt will talk to Kyrgios and explain to him that he cannot embarrass the top players during matches. Hewitt knows that, given that Lleyton could swear on court regularly when he was young. Kyrgios will listen, and maybe he will try, but when he is playing against the very good players, his mind has become extremely intense and all he could think about is winning his way – anyway, anytime, anywhere, against anyone.
Wawrinka confronted Kyrgios in the locker room but nothing occurred – yet. Both men have a fair amount of friends and both have a lot to say. Even if they both disagree the one thing that everyone knows is that Kyrgios has to be more respectful on court. If he doesn’t, he will have to a hard time finding the fans who cheer for him when the match is going on very long and very difficult and he won’t know where to turn. Right there, an angry man could be losing, rather than winning.
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