Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas’ feud explained
The two tennis icons once shared a good relationship and have even teamed up to play doubles several times. However, it was the 2022 Wimbledon that sharply turned these dynamics around.
The episode ‘Belonging’ of the Netflix special documentary, ‘Break Point’ shows the duo as they were going to play against each other in the third round of Wimbledon 2022. Tsitsipas says, “He [Nick Kyrgios] has brought that NBA basketball kind of attitude to tennis. I would describe it as an uneducated approach of playing tennis'”
“Tennis is a gentleman’s sport, it is all about respect. We are not playing basketball.” This comment has been interpreted as disrespectful and racist by sports fans and people around the world.
Stephanos evidently lost his cool in that match and the behavior that followed was not ‘gentleman’ of him either. Fans were quick to point out his hypocrisy. The Greek world number 5 noticed this misunderstanding and shared a post on social media, apologizing for his past statements
Nick Kyrgios’ reply to Stefanos Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas writes a rather lengthy and neat articulation of his true intentions. He explains how badly his comments about Nick had been misinterpreted. The Greek shares his post on Facebook clarifying his past statements and also promises to be more careful with his words in the future.
He writes, “I want to emphasize that I harbor no prejudice towards anyone based on their background, ethnicity, or interests. I deeply regret if my words were misinterpreted or caused offense, as that was never my intention.”
Furthermore, he writes about his love and admiration for the sport of basketball and expresses how he did not mean to ‘undermine his intelligence or abilities’. He also states that he ‘simply intended to express my perspective on certain aspects of his playing style, drawing comparisons to the passion and intensity often associated with basketball.
It was a very heated battle 🙏🏽 sometimes as players we go into these press conferences without digesting the match…. We’ve had some crazy battles and I know deep down you like my brand of tennis 👀🤷🏽♂️ we are all good @steftsitsipas https://t.co/5y6dwP5zSM
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) June 24, 2023
The Aussie tennis star tweets in response to this and acknowledges that the press conference, right after the heated match might have led to the unintentionally misworded comments. Finally, he affirms that the duo is ‘all good’.
What are your thoughts on all of this feud and drama? Let us know in the comments section below!
