Tsitsipas and Kyrgios
Nick Kyrgios curses at the Wimbledon chair umpire and asks, “Are you dumb?” He sought to see a Grand Slam observer, asking why his opponent, Stefanos Tsitsipas, had not lost the match for hitting the ball in the stands in anger after leaving the second set.
Unsatisfied with the response, Kyrgios asked, “What are you talking about, brother?” To which Tsitsipas replied: “Brother, bring out the observers. I’m not done. Bring them all out. I do not care. I won’t play until we get to the bottom of it.”
Unseeded Kyrgios won 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(7) to reach the fourth round at the All England Club for the first time since 2016. For having “a very bad side” to 4-seeded Tsitsipas.
“It’s constant bullying. That’s what he does. He bullies opponents,” said 2011 French Open runner-up Tsitsipas, who lost to Kyrgios on the grass last month at a tournament in Halle, Germany. “He probably was at school himself. was a bully. I don’t like goons.”
In the match, there were a total of three code violations called by chair umpire Damien Dumusois, one for audible obscenity on Kyrgios, and two for abuse of the ball on Tsitsipas, earning a point penalty.
Told about Tsitsipas’ “bullying” remark, Kyrgios laughed and shook his head.
“He was about to hit the ball at me. He was the one who struck an onlooker. … I did not do anything. Other than going back and forth with the umpire, I didn’t do anything to Stefanos today that was disrespectful, I don’t think,” Kyrgios said.
Kyrgios said of Tsitsipas, “If he’s impressed by him today, that’s what’s stopping him.” “Because someone could just do that, and that would kick him out of his game like that? I think it’s soft.”
After Kyrgios captured the second set during the match, Tsitsipas swung a ball into the crowd with a backhand. The ball appeared to hit a wall, but it was not entirely clear whether the ball hit anyone.
Tsitsipas later apologized for it, saying it stemmed from the frustration created by “all the circus shows going on on the other side of the net”.
“I didn’t hit any person. It hit the wall, thank God,” he said and admitted that he was trying to hit his enemy with some other balls on his body. “Of course I I’m never doing this again. It is my responsibility, of course. ,
It just sent a warning from the umpire, which didn’t go down well with Kyrgios.
“You can’t hit the ball in the crowd and hit someone and not default,” Kyrgios said.
Kyrgios will face Brandon Nakashima on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals.
(Inputs from PTI)