World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas called Australian Nick Kyrgios a “bully” with an “evil side” to his personality after crashing out of the Championships by 7-6(2), 4-6, 3-6, 6(7)-7 in the third round on late Saturday.
Kyrgios, who is known for his verbal antics, continued his running dialogue with the umpire during the match. His theatrics upset Tsitsipas to such an extent that the latter could have been defaulted for whacking a ball into the crowd.
The Greek Tsitsipas won the first set before losing his composure as well as the match after being caught up in Kyrgios’s antics. While sharing his feelings after the match, Tsitsipas said: “Yeah, it’s constant bullying, that’s what he does.
“He bullies the opponents. He was probably a bully at school himself. I don’t like bullies,” Tsitsipas was quoted as saying.
“I don’t like people that put other people down. He has some good traits in his character, as well. But he also has a very evil side to him, which if it’s exposed, it can really do a lot of harm and bad to the people around him.”
Kyrgios, who was fined USD 10,000 for spitting towards a fan during his first-round match, was warned for swearing during the bad-tempered third-round match. The Australian called for Tsitsipas to be defaulted after the Greek hit a ball close to a spectator’s head after losing the second set.
Tsitsipas Loses Control
Tsitsipas, however, apologised for losing control and added that it was frustrating that the umpires did not come down harder on Kyrgios.
“I wish we could all come together and put a rule in place. I don’t know. Something about talking. Why would you be talking while you’re playing? It makes no sense,” the Greek said.
“Every single point that I played today I feel like there was something going on on the other side of the net. That’s his way of manipulating the opponent and making you feel distracted, in a way.
“There is no other player that does this. There is no other player that is so upset and frustrated all the time with something. I really hope all us players can come up with something and make this a cleaner version of our sport, have this kind of behaviour not accepted, not allowed, not tolerated.”
Tsitsipas added that he tried to hit Kyrgios with a smash in the third set. “I was aiming for the body of my opponent but I missed by a lot, by a lot.
“I’m not used to play this way. But I cannot just sit there, act like a robot and act like someone that is completely cold and ignorant. Because you’re out there doing your job, and you have noise coming from the other side of the court for no absolute reason.”