Nick Kyrgios takes his war of words with ’embarrassing’ Stefanos Tsitsipas up a notch after world No.3 branded the Aussie a ‘clown’
Nick Kyrgios is continuing to escalate his very public war of words with bitter rival Stefanos Tsitsipas, labelling him ’embarrassing’ for his comments about their spiteful clash at Wimbledon last year.
Kyrgios and the world No.3 had a famous clash in the third round of last year’s tournament, with both players fined after the Greek smashed a ball into the crowd and branded his opponent an ‘evil bully’.
Neither player can clearly ever let their opponent have the last word, with Tsitsipas, talking to Greek news outlet Tromaktiko, this time taking at aim at Kyrgios – yet again – for their fiery Wimbledon clash last year.
Nick Kyrgios, pictured with girlfriend Costeen Hatzi at a launch for the Break Point reality show last month, has clapped back at his bitter rival Stefanos Tsitsipas yet again on social media
‘He was the one who broke our relationship. I didn’t do anything. In 2022 Wimbledon I was only trying to compete, while he was playing the clown,’ fumed Tsitsipas on Sunday.
Kyrgios decided to take yet another pass at his rival, pointing towards the fact he won the encounter 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6.
‘Embarrassing quote whilst we all look at the scoreboard hahaha,’ he told his 3.5million followers on his Instagram story, above a screenshot of Tsitsipas’ comments and photo showing the score during the clash.
Nick Kyrgios celebrates his win over Tsitsipas in their Wimbledon encounter last year – and what was used to accompany a comment from his rival
Nick Kyrgios clapped back at Tsitsipas yet again on social media, this time using a post showing him beating the Greek star during their spiteful Wimbledon clash last year
It comes as Kyrgios had already taken aim at Tsitsipas for his behaviour during the clash.
The fiery Greek star hit at ball into the crowd, hitting a woman, and then appeared to try and hit Kyrgios numerous times during the match.
He then liked a series of anti-Kyrgios tweets after the spiteful encounter.
‘Right….. this the match where he hit someone in the crowd….. belted another ball out of the stadium and got taught a lesson in front of another full stadium,’ Kyrgios tweeted on Sunday in response to Tsitsipas labelling him a ‘clown’.
That being said, Kyrgios was from far from an angel during his run to the Wimbledon final, which he lost to the now-world no. 1, Novak Djokovic.
He spat at a spectator, abused umpires, smashed racquets and singled out a woman who he said ‘had 700 drinks’, racking up tens of thousands of dollars worth of fines in the process.
On Sunday, Tsitsipas also said, ‘I was just trying to play and someone on the other side of the net was looking for trouble, doing his antics. It depends on which foot he wakes up with every day.’
Stefanos Tsitsipas yells in disgust during his loss to Novak Djokovic in the Australia Open final recently. The Greek star has become known for having poor on-court behaviour
He also described Kyrgios – who at one point called for a supervisor and refused to play during the pair’s Wimbledon clash – as a ‘devil when he enters the court’.
Fans who were hoping to see the pair clash at last month’s Australian Open were left bitterly disappointed when Kyrgios was forced to pull out in order to have surgery on his injured left knee.
More drama followed for the 27-year-old last Friday, when he pleaded guilty to assaulting his ex-girlfriend Chiara Passari in 2021.
Nick Kyrgios (right) fronted court in Canberra last Friday, accompanied by his mother (third from left) as he pleaded guilty to assaulting ex-girlfriend Chiara Passari in 2021
The tennis star fronted the ACT Magistrates Court in Canberra, where a bid to have the assault charge thrown out on mental health grounds was rejected.
But magistrate Beth Campbell threw out the charge, accepting the seriousness of the matter was ‘low-level’ and indicating Kyrgios was not a risk of reoffending.
Kyrgios continues to post on his social media about his comeback from the knee surgery, and is expected to be fit in the coming months.