Yesterday's match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios for the third round of Wimbledon was incredible and spectacular, with the Greek-Australian tennis player as the big winner. The reason, unfortunately, was not only.. their tennis skills, but also the tense atmosphere between the two players.
At the end of the match and after the handshake between the two athletes, Kyrgios commented in the finale that "what happened on the court, stayed on the court. He has my unlimited appreciation for Stefanos, I love him," but shortly afterwards, upon being informed of Tsitsipas' negative comments against him and the lines about bullying, bullies and the circus, he became furious and forgot his love!
At the press conference, Tsitsipas, clearly angered by Kyrgios' behaviour, admitted that he pointed the ball at the Greek-Australian with the ball, wanting to hit him. After apologizing for his behavior, he said of his opponent that "it was like a circus."
"I aimed at my opponent, but I missed," he said of the play for which he was penalized with a point penalty. Somebody needs to talk to him. There's anger behind it, that's for sure. I'm not used to playing like that, but I can't be like a robot and ignore it. It's happened three, four times. Once, I get it. But when it happens that many times, it pisses you off. Because you're there doing the job and you hear noise from the other side for no reason."
Και συνέχισε: "It's a constant bullying that he's doing. He's bullying his opponents. He must have been a bully at his school and I don't like those guys. I don't like people who degrade other people like that. He has some good things in his character, but he also has a bad side, which can hurt the people around him."
About the handshake they had at the end, he commented: "I shook hands because it was a good match and I have to congratulate my opponent, there has never been a match where I haven't shaken hands. But for his behaviour, if there was a handshake, I would have avoided it. It is not acceptable behaviour."
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"This whole circus"
The 23-year-old tennis player admitted that he wasn't on his best behavior either: "It was very bad of me. I've never done it before, throwing the ball off the court. I apologized to people, I don't know what was going on in my head. There was also this whole circus on the other side of the net. It was getting very tiring. It just happened, I didn't hit anybody. I hit a wall, fortunately. I won't do it again, that's for sure. It's my responsibility, but something caused this behavior that I'm not used to myself."
And he went on to talk about Kyrgios' behavior: "We need to get together and set a rule. Why talk when you're playing? It doesn't make sense. We're doing our job out there, tennis is the most important thing. Every point today I felt like something was happening on the other side of the net. I was trying not to get distracted, because it could have been on purpose. But that's a way of manipulating the player. Nobody else does that. Nobody else is so upset all the time about something, it's done so easily and quickly. I hope the players come up with something to have a better version of the sport, that this behavior is not accepted, not allowed."
Once the Greek-Australian was informed about the bullying that Stefanos complained about, he initially reacted with laughter. "I don't know what to say, I don't know how I bullied him. He threw balls at me, he hit a spectator, he threw the ball off the field. I didn't do anything. With the exception of going to the umpire a couple of times, I didn't do anything disrespectful to Stefano today. I didn't throw the balls. I don't know what to say."
He was also informed that Tsitsipas asked the players to act on his behavior: "I would be upset too if I lost to someone two weeks in a row. He should probably find a way to beat me a couple of times first and then go for it."
"Stefanos should have been suspended"
He also insisted that Stefanos should have been suspended at the end of the second set for the ball he threw into the stands. "I wonder why he stayed on court. I know that if the roles had been reversed, I would have been suspended." He was also asked if the "circus" could become tiring for him. "I feel great. The circus was all about him today. I felt great. I feel great, I'm ready to play again tomorrow. He's just trying to blame it on me, he's got serious issues. I'm good in the locker room, I have a lot of friends, just so you know. I'm one of the most likeable guys. They don't like him, let's put it that way."
"He's too soft to come here and say I bullied him. We're not made of the same stuff. If it affects him, if it holds him back, if it affects his game, then he's soft," he added.
Asked by a reporter if he would prefer Tsitsipas to tell him all this face to face in the locker room. "He would never do that. I just don't understand what I did. I didn't do anything against him, I wasn't aggressive. I wasn't throwing balls in his face. I don't think there was anger, I didn't have anger against him. I don't know where all that came from. The guy was angry because he threw the ball out of the stadium, it was going towards his box. There was some friction and, obviously, if you lose to me again you get angry. Also, let me say that I've never done a handshake like that myself. Even when I got suspended against Casper Rudd. I look people in the eye and say, well done, you were better, I wasn't as good as I needed to be. So it won't come to the dressing room."
Source: protothema.gr
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
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