Nick Kyrgios’ dad unimpressed by Wimbledon double standards while his brother defends ‘trash talk’

Nick Kyrgios reacts

Nick Kyrgios’ father Giorgos believes his son “would have been defaulted” if he was the one smashing a ball into the stands during his third-round Wimbledon clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Saturday evening’s match between Kyrgios and Tsitsipas was a bad-tempered affair with the former constantly swearing and shouting at officials while the latter hit a ball into the crowd after he got frustrated by an underarm serve.

Kyrgios immediately called for the Greek to be disqualified as it was similar to when Novak Djokovic was thrown out of the US Open in 2020 after he accidentally hit a line judge when he tried to return a ball to a ball kid.

He had a long discussion with the chair umpire and the supervisor, but Tsitsipas was allowed to finish the match with the Australian going on to win four sets. Both players were fined after the match, but the issue of double standards irked Giorgos.

Comment – Kyrgios vs Tsitsipas was X-rated drama that took tennis to a new audience

“It was about settling in for him, the nerves, playing against a tough opponent, which Stefanos is. He was frustrated, he should have broken him a couple of times,” hetold the BBC Tennis podcast.

When asked if Tsitsipas should have been defaulted he replied: “My son would have been defaulted. You’ve got to draw the line for everybody. I hate to see it for anyone. I feel sorry for all of them – the pressure is so much.”

Kyrgios’ brother Christos took to social media to defend the world No 40 as he first retweeted a meme with Nick turned into a WWF character and Tsitsipas at his mercy.

With Tsitsipas calling Kyrgios a “bully” during the post-match press conference, Christos later replied to several tweets from journalists and tennis Twitter accounts saying “trash talk is common”.

“Lol in competition trash talk is bullying? Man… watch some football, basketball or literally any other sport in the world. Trash talk is common,” he wrote.

Latest