Wimbledon: Tsitsipas tries to knock ‘bully’ Kyrgios with wild smash, almost hits spectators in frustration – Watch

Fans witnessed an intense duel at Wimbledon 2022 as Nick Kyrgios went on to knock fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas out of the competition. The Australia went down in the opening set, but secured the following three closing the match 6-7(2) 6-4 6-3 7-6(7). The match saw frustration from both the ends and the exchanges continued in the post-match press conference.

During the match, Kyrgios kept complaining to the umpire and was also warned for swearing. Tsitsipas, on the other hand, also failed to control his frustration and whacked the ball towards the crowd, which went past a head of a spectator seated near the Greek’s box. There was also an incident involving Tsitsipas delivering a hard smash straight towards Kyrgios, which he later admitted was a deliberate attempt to hit his body.

Following the incident, Kyrgios wanted a default against his opponent but the Greek a received a code violation. The Australian also compared Tsitsipas antics with that of Novak Djokovic, who was given default from the US open in 2020 for something similar.

Tsitsipas was booed by the crowd at one stage after losing his composure in what he described as a Kyrgios circus. After his loss on Court One, Tsitsipas made his feelings known in no uncertain terms and labelled Kyrgios a “bully”.

“Yeah, it’s constant bullying, that’s what he does. He bullies opponents. He was probably a bully at school himself. I don’t like bullies,” Tsitsipas said.

“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.”

Kyrgios, fined $10,000 after his first-round match for spitting towards a fan, laughed off Tsitsipas’s remarks about bullying and said the Greek had “serious issues”.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m not sure how I bullied him. 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,” said Kyrgios, who is in the last 16 for the fourth time.

“I did nothing towards Stefanos today that was disrespectful. I was not drilling him with balls. To come in here and say I bullied him, that’s just soft. We’re not cut from the same cloth. I go up against guys who are true competitors.

“I’ve got many friends in the locker room, just to let you know. I’m actually one of the most liked. I’m set. He’s not liked. Let’s just put that there.”

Tsitsipas apologised for losing control but said it was frustrating that the umpires did not come down harder on the Australian whose talent is often overshadowed by his antics.

“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,” he said.

“Every single point that I played today I feel like there was something going on on the other side of the net.

“That’s his way of manipulating the opponent and making you feel distracted, in a way. There is no other player that does this. I really hope all us players can come up with something and make this a cleaner version of our sport, have this kind of behaviour not accepted, not allowed, not tolerated.”

Kyrgios later said Tsitsipas should be more concerned with his losing record against him, having also been beaten in Halle recently. “I would be pretty upset if I lost to someone two weeks in a row. Maybe he should figure out how to beat me a couple more times first,” the Australian said.

Tsitsipas conceded he had tried to hit Kyrgios with a smash in the third set.

“I was aiming for the body of my opponent but I missed by a lot,” he said. “I’m not used to play this way. But I cannot just sit there, act like a robot and act like someone that is completely cold and ignorant.

“Because you’re out there doing your job, and you have noise coming from the other side of the court for no absolute reason.”

-with Reuters inputs