Stefanos Tsitsipas was livid with Nick Kyrgios in his post-match press conference on Saturday following their explosive Wimbledon third-round clash, likening the atmosphere to a circus – something Roger Federer did years ago in his first meeting with the Australian back in 2015. Kyrgios vs Tsitsipas was always going to be a box office match on Court One last night and it certainly didn’t disappoint for entertainment and controversy.
Kyrgios was already winning over the crowd in the early games with a tweener and underarm serve through his legs. The match itself soon became secondary though when Kyrgios began berating line judges behind him, with two going up to the umpire to complain.
Tsitsipas ended up being booed by the crowd as the atmosphere inside Court One turned nasty towards the Greek. And he was unable to deal with the pressure cooker, reacting to the noise after losing the second set by smashing a ball into the crowd and seemingly narrowly missing a spectator.
That saw Kyrgios go up to the umpire and demand Damien Dumusois to default Tsitsipas from the match and even refused to play until he spoke with more supervisors. The crowd continued to side with Kyrgios as the match went on and Tsitsipas struggled to keep his emotions in check with the Aussie going on to win in four sets.
The 27-year-old admitted afterwards that he still felt “love” for Tsitsipas and what happened on the court didn’t matter. But Tsitsipas wasn’t over what happened in the match and likened the situation to a “circus”.
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The world No 6 said: “I did apologize to the people. I don’t know what went through my head at that time. I think also he’s part, you know, with all the circus show going on on the other side of the net. It started to become very tiring, in a way.
“You know, it’s just like — that happened. I didn’t hit any people. It did hit the wall, thank God. For sure I’m never doing that again. It’s my responsibility, for sure. But there was also something that created that behaviour that I’m not used to see myself.”
It’s not the first time Kyrgios has riled up some of the biggest stars in the sport with Rafael Nadal regularly speaking out against the former world No 13. And even Federer, who usually remains tightlipped on criticising opponents, had enough during his match in 2015 against Kyrgios.
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The pair were meeting for the first time at the Madrid Masters that year and Federer was 5-1 down in the second set tiebreak. Federer was clearly unimpressed by some of the antics on the other side of the net though as he said to chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani: “We need a clown for this circus.
He later explained his comments further, saying: “There were a lot of bad calls. Only thing missing was a clown because it was just like such a mess out there.”
Federer is making a surprise appearance at Wimbledon today on the first Sunday of play in the tournament’s history. The 40-year-old is still recovering from knee surgery last year with his return to action set to be at the Laver Cup in September.
That event in London could be the first time the ‘Big Four’ team up with Andy Murray named as the third member of six-man Team Europe while Novak Djokovic has also hinted he could feature.
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