By Tony Fairbairn at Wimbledon
- Nick Kyrgios def Stefanos Tsitsipas [4] 6-7(2) 6-4 6-3 7-6(7)
- A dramatic evening saw Nick Kyrgios beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in four sets although both players brought positive and negative things to the match.
LONDON, ENGLAND – It was a controversial evening which saw Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas bring the good, bad and ugly side to their games which eventually resulted in Kyrgios reaching the last 16 at Wimbledon.
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Wimbledon loves nothing more than a dramatic late-night match to end the first week of one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world. This year’s tournament stuck to the trend with a dramatic third round match taking place on Court One with Nick Kyrgios taking on Stefanos Tsitsipas with a place in the second week up for grabs.
There was scintillating tennis, moaning from the Australian and an incident-packed match which nearly saw Tsitsipas defaulted for hitting the ball at a member of the crowd. In the end it was the Australian who produced a clutch fourth set tiebreak to triumph. However the story didn’t end there with the two exchanging words in the press conference room. So with that in mind let’s look at the good, the bad and the ugly side of arguably the most entertaining match at this year’s tournament so far.
The good side of the match
Let’s start with the positives of the match which is that both players produced a ridiculous level of play. Tsitsipas started the match with a perfectly-executed game plan, serving well and creating effective patterns of play. Kyrgios responded with powerful serving and a great flurry of power, variety and depth. The Greek was clutch in the first set tiebreak before the Australian took control of the match with a high base level of play, dominating the baseline and finishing points off at the net.
The fourth set produced drama and an incredible level of play as Tsitsipas threw everything at Kyrgios to force a fifth set. In the end though the Australian remained clutch and edged the fourth set tiebreak 9-7 to seal a place in the last 16. The level produced in this match showed that Tsitsipas can play effectively on grass and isn’t far off from a deep run at SW19 bif he keeps developing in the right way over the next few years.
This match also showed that when Kyrgios is dialled in and focused then he is no match for any player in the draw. The Australian delivers a type of tennis that can be difficult to stop once he has momentum on his side, with big serving and big hitting, Kyrgios has shown the potential that people saw in him to win a grand slam. Whether the Australian can keep this level of play up for the next four matches is another question completely but it’s good to see that he still has the motivation to play unbelievable tennis and compete for the biggest prizes in tennis.
The bad side of the match
Now let’s talk about the negative side of the match as Kyrgios once again turned the match into a circus. The Australian was once again arguing with umpires, line judges, the crowd and everyone in sight as he aimed to distract Tsitsipas as much as humanly possible. Although Tsitsipas tried to pay as little attention as possible to what was going on down the other end, it was becoming impossible and soon the Greek made his frustrations known to the umpire.
At one point during the contest Kyrgios was shouting at the umpire and refused to play until the supervisor came down to the court after Tsitsipas hit one of the spectators with a ball that he hit into the crowd. Both players showed their bad sides and didn’t promote the sport with their attitude in the best way possible. This may be something tennis authorities may have to look at in the future with emotions on the men’s tour boiling to an all-new high this year with umpires, line judges and crowds all being the recipients of bad behaviour from players.
After the match Tsitsipas admitted that it was bad behaviour from his point of view and apologised:
“Look, I have to say it was really bad from my side. I have never done that before, throwing the ball outside the court in that way,” Tsitsipas said.
“I did apologize to the people. I don’t know what went through my head at that time. I think also he’s part, you know, with all the circus show going on the other side of the net. It started to become very tiring, in a way. You know, it’s just like — that happened. I didn’t hit any people. It did hit the wall, thank God. For sure I’m never doing that again. It’s my responsibility, for sure. But there was also something that created that behaviour that I’m not used to see myself.”
Meanwhile Kyrgios’s approach to his behaviour isn’t changing anytime soon as he admit he doesn’t care about the criticism he receives:
“I don’t really care. They have to watch me play fourth round of Wimbledon. Got a pretty nice paycheck this week as well, so I don’t really care about what they think and what they are going to comment on my interview or anything like that,” Kyrgios said.
“I just don’t understand what I did — I don’t know what I did today. To start there, I actually don’t know what I — like I did nothing towards him. I didn’t think I was aggressive towards him.”
What the backlash will be from this match from an ATP point of view will be interested but the bad attitude on show definitely made the entertainment value increase which has been Kyrgios’ motto for a long time and something that Tsitsipas is not very interested in being apart of going forward.
The ugly side of the match
Now time for the ugly side of the match as the conflict didn’t stop on the court. First of all Tsitsipas came into the press conference room and called Kyrgios ‘a bully’ and ‘very evil’ as he was clearly disappointed by the defeat:
“It’s constant bullying, that’s what he does. He bullies the opponents. He was probably a bully at school himself,” Tsitsipas shockingly said.
“I don’t like bullies. I don’t like people that put other people down. He has some good traits in his character, as well. But when he also has a very evil side to him, which if it’s exposed, it can really do a lot of harm and bad to the people around him. Myself, when I feel like other people disrespect me and don’t respect what I’m doing from the other side of the court, it’s absolute normal from my side to act and do something about it.
“I was aiming for the body of my opponent but I missed by a lot, by a lot. This needs to stop. It’s not okay. Like, someone needs to sit down with him and talk, like, or — I don’t, like, I don’t know what to say. There is frustration behind that, for sure.”
A quite personal remark for Tsitsipas to make as he clearly was annoyed by Kyrgios’ antics throughout the course of the match. The Australian’s response was that he did nothing wrong during the match:
“I don’t know what to say. I’m not sure how I bullied him. 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,” Kyrgios responded.
“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. I would be pretty upset if I lost to someone two weeks in a row, as well. Maybe he should figure out how to beat me a couple more times first and then get to that.
“I just think he’s making that match about me, like he’s got some serious issues, like serious. I’m good in the locker room. I’ve got many friends, just to let you know. I’m actually one of the most liked. I’m set. He’s not liked. Let’s just put that there.”
The war of words will continue to rage on as last night’s dramatic match showed that both Kyrgios and Tsitsipas are good and bad for tennis which should provide good talking points for the future. Tsitsipas will now prepare for the US hard court swing while Kyrgios will face Brandon Nakashima in the fourth round on Monday.
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