WATCH: Heated exchange after match as Nick Kyrgios claims he was ‘threatened’ by Croatian entourage
Another day, another dramatic incident involving Nick Kyrgios with the Australian involved in an altercation with the coaching team of doubles opponents Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic.
Kyrgios and his compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis stunned the first seeds 7-6 (10-7), 6-3 in the Australian Open men’s doubles second round on Friday.
As expected, it was a pretty heated match with the home crowd backing the two Australian players, much to the annoyance of the Croatia pair.
The drama continued after the match in the locker room with Channel Nine releasing footage.
Things got HEATED in the locker room after Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis’ doubles win Grothy got the inside word ️#AusOpen – Live on Channel 9 and 9Now pic.twitter.com/iD26iHnUW1
— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) January 21, 2022
And on Saturday morning Kyrgios tweeted about the “chop fest” as he revealed the coach and trainer of his opponents “threatened to fight” in the locker room.
“Just letting you know after yesterday’s chop fest in doubles my opponents coach and trainer proceeded to threaten to fight in the players gym tennis is a soft soft sport @TKokkinakis all because I moved and hit them with a tennis ball ” he wrote.
Just letting you know after yesterday’s chop fest in doubles my opponents coach and trainer proceeded to threaten to fight in the players gym tennis is a soft soft sport @TKokkinakis all because I moved and hit them with a tennis ball
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) January 21, 2022
Former player and commentator Sam Groth told Nine Network’s Australian Open broadcast gave a bit more detail of what went down in the locker room.
“Thanasi actually messaged me as it was happening and said Nick got accosted in the locker room by Pavic’s fitness trainer,” he said.
“Obviously weren’t very happy, the number one team in the world, number one seeds going down against Thanasi and Nick.
“Didn’t accept what the crowd was doing, what was happening with Nick.
“I think it’s just a little bit soft to take it off the court, into the locker room and not even from the players, from someone from the team.”
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