By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Photo credit: Ryan Pierse/Getty
Nick Kyrgios sees the Happy Slam as major hunting ground.
The 2022 Australian Open doubles champion Kyrgios shared his main mission for Melbourne: Take his shot at reigning champion Jannik Sinner.
Dream Team: Djokovic and Kyrgios to Partner in Brisbane
Talking with friends and former ATP pros John Isner and Jack Sock on the Nothing Major podcast, Kyrgios said he dreams of a Sinner showdown at the Australian Open.
The 29-year-old Kyrgios, a caustic critic of Sinner since news the world No. 1 failed a pair of doping tests last March, shared his tactical approach should the match come off. Kyrgios aims to apply crowd sourcing if he faces Sinner Down Under.
Chaos king Kyrgios said he'll try to "just turn it into an absolute riot" if they meet in Melbourne.
“Let’s be honest, I just want to go out there and I really want to play Sinner,” Kyrgios told Nothing Major podcast.
“I thought about this [strategy]. If I played him in the Australian Open, I would just get every single person in the crowd to get on him. I would just turn it into an absolute riot.
“All respect would go out the window and I would just do anything to win.”
In their lone prior meeting, Sinner stopped Kyrgios 7-6(3), 6-3, in the 2022 Miami Open round of 16.
Former Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios has criticized what he suggests is a two-tiered star system approach to doping consequences.
In a social media post mocking both Iga Swiatek and Sinner’s statements on how the substance entered their system, Krygios posted “the excuses that we can all use is that we just didn’t know…Professionals at the highest level of the sport can now just say ‘we didn’t know’.”
WADA is appealing Sinner's steroid case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport—and seeking a ban of one to two years for the reigning US Open champion.
“It is WADA’s view that the finding “no fault or negligence” was not correct under the applicable rules," WADA said in a statement in September. "WADA is seeking a period of ineligibility of between one and two years.
"WADA is not seeking a disqualification of any results, save that which has already been imposed by the tribunal of first instance.”
Reigning US Open and Australian Open champion Sinner said Sinner said he was "very disappointed" by WADA's appeal.
“Obviously, I’m very disappointed and also surprised," Sinner told the media. "We had three hearings.
"All three hearings came out very positively for me. Maybe they just want to make sure that everything is in the right position.”
Tennis Channel analyst Mark Petchey publicly called on Kyrgios to pipe down after his repeated attacks on Sinner's competitive integrity.
In an extensive interview with Betway earlier this month, Petchey says Kyrgios should let WADA's appeal process play out before attacking Sinner's competitive integrity.
"Nick Kyrgios needs to give it a rest on attacking Jannik Sinner over doping saga," Petchey told Betway. “Yes, Nick Kyrgios needs to give it a rest. Sinner has been found not guilty, right?
"And we're about to get the WADA appeal. Let's just wait for that. You have to let the process go through due care and attention. This is a massive thing. It is somebody’s career.”
Rather than resting, Kyrgios sounds intent on stirring up a storm of controversy ahead of Sinner's maiden major title defense.