Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas praised each other a few days ago when they met at the Halle tournament. They published some photo together and talked about friendship. Everything changed at Wimbledon. The importance of the tournament rose, the revolutions, the tone and aggression was brushed. Their friendship was blown up. Kyrgios and Tsitsipas hate each other.
While Rafael Nadal spoke at a press conference about the "tennis player codes"those who respect each other on the court without needing to be printed in a rule book, Kyrgios and Tsitsipas finished the hottest match of the tournament and surely of the year.
To understand the magnitude of what had happened on the track, an example: the director of the BBC, the channel that televises the match in the United Kingdom, decided to omit the clash of hands on the network, once the match was over, for fear to what could happen.
The previous two hours and seven minutes had been a sample of the circus that Kyrgios can put on a tennis court. A show in which he enjoys and feels comfortable. A way of playing and understanding his sport that heated up Tsitsipas to unsuspected points in press conferences for history.
"He is a bully. It is what it does. He abuses the opponents of him. He sure was a bully at school"Tsitsipas said.
The Greek exploded because what had happened in the game, from both sides, was inexcusable. Kyrgios asked that the line judges be changed, due to errors in calling the shots. He managed to unsettle Tsitsipas, who threw a ball into the stands and nearly hit a fan in the face. This turned on the Australian, who asked the judge to expel him. "It has to be a disqualification. "If this is not, what else needs to be done?"shouted the one from Canberra, remembering what happened to Djokovic at the US Open.
To try to calm the matter, Tsitsipas’s solution was to try to hit his rival with a ball. Up to three times he tried to hit the ball on him.
"I failed by a lot. I wanted all of this to stop. Someone needs to sit down and talk to him"added the Hellenic.
"I don’t know how I could have mistreated him. He was the one who threw balls at me, the one who hit a fan in the stands, the one who took balls out of the stadium. I didn’t do anything beyond talk to the referee. I did nothing to disrespect Stefanos"replied Kyrgios, who went further.
"I’d be mad too if I lost to someone two weeks in a row"added Kyrgios, who leads 4-1 in the head-to-head against the Greek. "Maybe I should learn how to beat myself up a few times first.".
But the taunts were not only in the tennis field. "I like myself in the locker room. I have many friends, I am one of the best liked. He does not. let’s leave it there"Kyrgios assured.
The controversies are not alien to either of the two tennis players. Kyrgios has been disqualified, he has received fines, he was away from the courts for several weeks, he had to go to the psychologist… Tsitsipas has bordered on the legality of the rules, extending his breaks in the bathroom, breaking the game with it, abusing the coaching with his father…
Both move well in these mudflats. But while Kyrgios knew how to handle himself this Saturday, Tsitsipas lost his nerve. And the game.
"It’s very soft to come here and say that I harassed you. We don’t have the same thin skin. I come up against the best competitors. If you’ve been affected by today, that’s why you’re one step behind. Because someone who bothers you is going to end your game. it’s soft"Kyrgio stated.
