John Morris, the agent of tennis player Nick Kyrgios, is less than impressed with Jelena Jankovic’s brief appearance in Miami.
Jankovic, the 18th seed in the tournament, played Polish qualifier Magda Linette in the second round of the Miami Open. The match lasted only seven minutes (one game) before the Serbian was forced to retire from the match due to a right shoulder injury. The brief show from Jankovic was blasted by Morris.
Disgusting Jankovic was able to do that today when there are LL waiting to play. The WTA need to stamp this out, it’s so bad for the sport.
— John Morris (@JohnMorris1982) 25 March 2016
Later on Morris argued that it was unfair for players to enter a match with a significant injury, when the spot could be given to a lucky loser from the qualifying draw. The reasoning was understandable, however, some have criticized him for calling the former world No.1 disgusting. Since 2013, Jankovic has only retired from four matches (including Miami).
Morris is the Director of Sports Management at the prestigious Global Sporting Connections. The company represents a wide range of tennis players, including Aljaz Bedene, Damir Dzumhur, Sania Mirza and Dominic Inglot. Some Twitter users labelled his comments as ironic in relations to the recent Davis Cup controversy surround Nick Kyrgios. Shortly after Australia’s loss to the USA, Bernard Tomic suggested that the world No.26 deliberately faked illness to miss the tie. On twitter account said that Kyrgios is not known as ‘a model of sportsmanship’. A comment which Morris hit back at.
@notcharchar Agreed he’s had his issues but always gracious & applauds opponents good play. One of the best on tour for sportsmanship.
— John Morris (@JohnMorris1982) 25 March 2016
Kyrgios is also playing in Miami. The 24th seed opened up his campaign with a straight sets win over Marcos Baghdatis. In the third round, he will play America’s Tim Smyczek.
