Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas has taken another shot at Nick Kyrgios, blaming the Australian and his “antics” during their fiery Wimbledon stoush last year for their friendship ending.
Speaking to Greek media organisation Tromaktiko, Tsitsipas said Kyrgios “destroyed” their friendship, whereas he claims he “did nothing”.
Nick Kyrgios celebrates after beating fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas at Wimbledon last year.Credit:AP
“I was just trying to play and someone on the other side of the net was looking for trouble, doing his antics,” Tsitsipas said, in translated English. “It depends on which foot he wakes up with every day.”
It took a matter of hours for Tsitsipas’ comments to make it to Kyrgios, who tweeted in response: “Right … this the match he hit someone in the crowd … belted another ball out of the stadium and got taught a lesson in front of another full stadium?”
The Australian Open runner-up spent the summer chipping away at Kyrgios, who beat Tsitsipas in four sets – after dropping the first set in a tie-breaker – in an at-times wild third-round showdown on his way to making the Wimbledon final.
They were fined a combined $20,000 for their actions during that match, including Tsitsipas being slapped with an almost $15,000 sanction for unsportsmanlike conduct after twice angrily smacking tennis balls into the crowd.
One narrowly missed a fan after he lost the second set, with Kyrgios demanding to see a supervisor and briefly refusing to play while comparing the incident to Novak Djokovic’s US Open default for hitting a lineswoman.
Tsitsipas, who is co-coached by Australia’s Mark Philippoussis, even hit Kyrgios with the ball on three occasions to end points. Philippoussis said during the Australian Open that the infamous Kyrgios clash at Wimbledon was “a big learning experience” for Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas accused his Greek-Australian rival after that match of being an “evil bully”, while Kyrgios said the world No.3 had “serious issues” and was “not liked” among fellow players.
Australia’s Mark Philippoussis co-coaches Stefanos Tsitsipas.Credit:AP
They played doubles together at the Diriyah Tennis Cup exhibition event in Saudi Arabia in December – not by choice, after being automatically paired due to respective singles losses – but that did nothing to repair their relationship.
Tsitsipas’ latest swipe followed a series of comments across the past month, including saying on the Netflix documentary Break Point that Kyrgios transformed into “a devil when he enters the court”.
He also told the Canberran to “enjoy his holidays” after news broke that Kyrgios had withdrawn from the United Cup due to injury ahead of this year’s Australian Open, which he also missed.
Kyrgios has barely been out of the headlines this year despite not hitting a ball competitively, having a “low-level” assault charge dismissed by a magistrate this week after pleading guilty to shoving over his ex-girlfriend in 2021. He appeared at ACT Magistrates Court on crutches, after undergoing knee surgery a fortnight ago.
Kyrgios wants to be fit to compete in the Indian Wells Masters, one of the biggest events outside the four grand slams, on March 6, and he still plans to play at Roland Garros after last contesting the claycourt major in 2017.
“I’ll definitely have ‘French Open’ circled on my calendar,” Kyrgios told The Age in January. “I think I’m as motivated as ever. I was ready for the AO … I’m just going to use this as fuel.”
