Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas push the boundaries of fairness beyond recognition, spectators go wild – and referee Damien Dumusois struggled to stay in control. In a spectacular Wimbledon match, Kyrgios narrowly prevailed.
World number five Stefanos Tsitsipas sharply criticized the behavior of tennis bully Nick Kyrgios in the Wimbledon duel. “It’s constant bullying. He bullies his opponents,” the Greek said of his former Australian doubles partner. “He was probably a bully at school. I don’t like bullies. I don’t like people who put other people down.” Kyrgios had won the third-round duel in the lawn classic in Wimbledon and, like Tsitsipas himself, misbehaved several times.
Kyrgios largely rejected the allegations against himself and emphasized misconduct by Tsitsipas. “He was the one who hit balls at me,” said the 27-year-old. “Aside from my back and forth with the referee, I haven’t done anything disrespectful towards Stefanos.” Kyrgios’ behavior is unacceptable, said Tsitsipas: “Someone has to sit down and talk to him.”
When Kyrgios scored 6: 7 (2: 7), 6: 4, 6: 3, 7: 6 (9: 7), there were warnings on both sides. The Australian demanded a disqualification from his opponent when he hit a ball on the stands. “That was really bad of me,” said Tsitsipas self-critically. “I apologized to people. I don’t know what went through my head.”
Kyrgios messed with the referees several times, asked referee Damien Dumusois “Are you stupid?”, used swear words and also mobbed his own team in the stands. Tsitsipas aimed several balls directly at his opponent’s body. “This has to stop. It’s not okay. Someone has to sit down and talk to him,” said the 23-year-old. It was a “circus show”. Kyrgios has good character traits, but also “a very bad side”.
Kyrgios sensed a bad loser in Tsitsipas, as he defeated him twice in just over two weeks. “Maybe he should try to figure out how to beat me a couple of times first,” said the Australian, calling his opponent “soft”.
