Nick Kyrgios was back to his winning best at professional tennis’ most bougie grand slam — Wimbledon. King Kyrgios wrapped up a win over world number five Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday morning. As you’d expect, it wasn’t without bucketloads of spicy drama.
Kyrgios pushed past Tsitsipas in four sets to win 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 in a scoreline that looked suspiciously like my BSB number. Please don’t come for my $27. Cheers.
Box office.@NickKyrgios defeats Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(7)#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/pEz7tltCOd
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 2, 2022
The first spicy moment came after Tsitsipas hit a ball into the crowd which nearly clocked a female spectator.
Kyrgios then demanded his opponent be defaulted from Wimbledon (AKA: DQ’d) after Tsitsipas only copped a code violation.
“You can’t hit a ball into a crowd and hit someone and not be defaulted,” Kyrgios repeatedly said to the chair umpire.
He backed up his argument by referencing Novak Djokovic‘s DQ from the 2020 US Open, arguing that Tsitsipas should suffer the same fate. In that instance, Novak hit a line umpire in the throat with a ball.
“Bring out more supervisors. I’m not done. Bring them all out,” Kyrgios told the Wimbledon chair umpire in what could probably be deemed the tennis equivalent of wanting to speak to the manager.
After the match, Kyrgios used his press conference to shift blame for the mid-match drama on his opponent.
Kyrgios on Tsitsipas: “He’s got some serious issues. I’m good in the locker room, I’ve got many friends…he’s not liked. Let’s just put that there.” pic.twitter.com/L7ufKLHZxY
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) July 2, 2022
“I’m good in the locker room. I’ve got many friends,” Kyrgios told reporters.
“I’m actually one of the most liked… he’s not liked,” he continued, referring to Tsitsipas.
In his own presser, Tsitsipas took aim at Kyrgios for talking and accused him of bullying.
Tsitsipas about Kyrgios’ distraction tactics: “Every single point I played today I felt like there was something going on on the other side” “there’s not a player who does this…a player who’s upset and frustrated all the time. It’s triggered so easy and so fast” pic.twitter.com/PYZNE7Tsx0
— NoFirstName claycourtdal (@samstennnis) July 2, 2022
“It’s constant bullying, that’s what he does. He was probably a bully at school,” said the world number 5.
“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.”
Calling someone EVIL at a Wimbledon post-game press conference? That’s gotta be a first.
Messy binches, the both of them!
Oh well, whether you love him or hate him Kyrgios gets eyeballs watching tennis. I think Roger Federer summed him up nicely.
Roger Federer was absolutely right when he said “we need a clown for this circus” when he was playing Nick Kyrgios in Madrid.
— Vansh (@vanshv2k) July 2, 2022
Kyrgios plays in the round of 16 against American Brandon Nakashima on Monday.
