Say what you want about Nick Kyrgios, but you can't tell us that he is entertaining.
Never one to shy way from controversy, the Australian's match against Stefanos Tsitsipas at Wimbledon yesterday was one of his more controversial outings. While he would come away with the victory in the end, there were some testy moments throughout.
Kyrgios argued with the umpire throughout, complaining about the conduct of both the crowd and his opponent. Tsitsipas wasn't exactly on his best behaviour either, smacking balls at both Kyrgios and towards the spectators over the course of the four-set contest.
To be fair, there were also some moments of absolute quality.
Amaaazing #Kyrgios underarm, between the legs *SERVE* against #tsitsipas just now on court 1 at #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/quVERhrE0l
— 𝐄𝐝𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐥 (@eddbagenal) July 2, 2022
Considering how things went on the court, the two men weren't exactly overly friendly afterwards. They shared a rather awkward handshake before making their way off the court.
Stefanos Tsitsipas slams Nick Kyrgios after Wimbledon loss
Speaking after the match, Tsitsipas was not shy in criticising the conduct of his opponent. He pleaded with the authorities to alter the rules so that Nick Kyrgios would be forced to change his behaviour on the court.
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. You are out there to do your job. Tennis is the most important thing that we are doing out there.
Every single point that I played today, I feel like there was something going on on the other side of the net.
I’m not trying to be distracted by that, because I know it might be intentional. And 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. It triggers it so easy and so fast...
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. 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.
Strong words.
As for Nick Kyrgios, he felt that he had done very little to draw such criticisms from his opponent.
"I’m not sure how I bullied him", he said. "He was the one hitting balls at me, he was the one that hit a spectator, he was the one that smacked it out of the stadium.
"I just don’t understand what I did. Like I did nothing towards him. I didn’t think I was aggressive towards him.
The 27-year old will now face American Brandon Nakashima tomorrow with a place in the quarter-finals on the line.
SEE ALSO: Kyrgios v Tsitsipas Was One Of The Chippiest Tennis Matches We Can Recall
