By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Monday, February 6, 2023
A month into the new season, major finalists Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios are firing up their feud.
Australian Open finalist Tsitsipas gave a recent interview to Greek media agency Tromaktiko detailing the root of his rift with Kyrgios, which was highlighted by their controversial clash at Wimbledon last summer.
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World No. 3 Tsitsipas was quoted as saying Kyrgios "broke" the pair's relationship with his clownish stall tactics on court designed to unnerve the Greek.
“I didn’t do anything,” Tsitsipas was quoted as saying by Tromaktiko. "“I was only trying to compete, while he was playing the clown. It also depends on how he wakes up each day.”
Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios called Tsitsipas out for the comments on Twitter, reminding the Greek he "got taught a lesson" in that wild Wimbledon defeat.
"This the match he hit someone in the crowd….. belted another ball out of the stadium and got taught a lesson in front of another full stadium," Kyrgios posted.
That Wimbledon match continues to spark the flames of feud between Tsitsipas and his family and Kyrgios.
Reflecting on her son's four-set loss to Kyrgios in the Wimbledon third round, Tsitsipas' mom, Julia Sergeyevna Apostoli told The Greek City Times the Aussie's antics got into her son's head.
"The only person who confuses Stefanos is Nick Kyrgios. He is the only one who brings him out of himself," Julia Sergeyevna Apostoli told The Greek City Times last fall. "In the Wimbledon match, Kyrgios decided to ignore the general rules of sports. The match became very strange and nervous because he was playing 'dirty' tennis.
"Stefanos doesn't play like that. He completely lost his temper due to the behavior of his opponent and lost the match without being any worse on the court."
The mercurial Kyrgios rode his massive serve and major mind games to topple fourth-seeded Tsitsipas 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(7) in a wild, crazy and contentious Clash on Court No. 1.
Both men were hit with code violations as Court No. 1 felt like the octagon at times. Tsitsipas summed up this tennis tempest of sound and flurry as "a circus."
Tsitsipas called Kyrgios out as a bully in his post-match presser, while Kyrgios claimed Tsitsipas "is not liked."
"It's constant bullying, that's what he does," Tsitsipas said.
Kyrgios laughed off the bullying charge saying "I did nothing towards Stefanos today that was disrespectful."
"I don't know what to say. I'm not sure how I bullied him," Kyrgios told the media after beating the Greek for the fourth time in five meetings. "He was the one hitting balls at me, he was the one that hit a spectator, he was the one that smacked it out of the stadium. I didn't do anything.
"I was actually like -- apart from me just going back and forth to the umpire for a bit, I did nothing towards Stefanos today that was disrespectful, I don't think. I was not drilling him with balls."
Photo credit: Getty