“He has a point penalty and when you hear him talk about the disappointment in the cold light of match day, he’s lost the plot. Playing against Kyrgios, you have to expect these antics. He will be fined, but it is Tsitsipas who is distracted. He is the one who is lost.”
As well as being warned for swearing, Kyrgios asked the referee if he was “dumb”, while Tsitsipas lost his temper and tried to hit his opponent with a smash. Mats Wilander, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, was among those unimpressed. “Is it fun? yes Is it respectful? No,” Wilander told Eurosport. “Is tennis great sometimes? Unbelievable because both players are such good players. And Kyrgios is so talented.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m not sure I want to see anything like that again to be honest because I don’t think that’s what we want to advertise in tennis. We want to not advertise it as entertainment.
“We want to promote it as inspirational, educational, but that’s what people might want to see. I’m not sure I’m a big fan of what’s going on, to be honest.”
Kyrgios has already received numerous fines in his tennis career and responded to Tsitsipas’ accusation of being a “bully” by calling the charges “mild” and claiming the Greek had “serious problems”.
Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli said the match had gone from “fun” to completely unacceptable behaviour. “Whether you like Nick [Kyrgios] or not, you can’t deny that he makes people come alive,” she said. “I don’t like watching the part where they try to hit each other with the ball, but the other part is fun. I think the bullying of the referees, the linesman or the kids with the ball sometimes – that’s totally unacceptable and that has to stop, period.”
Add Comment