WIMBLEDON: Rafael Nadal has voiced his concerns about some of Nick Kyrgios’ on-court behavior after an incident that took place during their second round match.
During their three hour clash on Centre Court at The All England Club, the Australian smash a forehand shot directly towards the body of the 12-time French Open champion. Who was standing at the net and gave an angry glare back. Following the match, Kyrgios admitted that his actions were deliberate and that he has no remorse over the situation.
“I was going for him. Yeah, I wanted to hit him square in the chest. Like, he’s got decent hands,” the 24-year-old Kyrgios said during his press conference.
“Why would I apologize? I mean, the dude has got how many slams, how much money in the bank account?
“I think he can take a ball to the chest, bro. I’m not going to apologize to him at all.”
In recent months there has been a frosty relationship between the two, who have now locked horns on the ATP Tour seven times. In a podcast earlier this year, Kyrgios described the Spaniard as a ‘salty’ person when losing. Meanwhile, Nadal has previously questioned his opponents level of respect within the sport.
Reacting to the latest incident involving Kyrgios, the Wimbledon third seed branded him as ‘dangerous.’ Saying that he could have seriously hurt somebody.
“When he hits the ball like this, it is dangerous. It’s not dangerous for me, it is dangerous for a line referee, dangerous for the crowd,” said the two-time Wimbledon champion.
“I know when you hit this kind of ball, the ball can go anywhere. This time the ball went in, almost hit me, no problem.
“I am a professional, so I know how to avoid this. But another one, the ball goes straight to the back. That ball hits an eye or something like this, it is a problem.”
Besides his criticism, Nadal also believes Kyrgios does have the potential to one day win a grand slam. His best performance of the majors has been reaching the quarter-final stages twice. Although the last time was at the 2015 Australian Open.
“With his talent and with his serve, he can win a Grand Slam, of course. He has the talent to do it. Is true that things can be completely different for him if he wants to play all the matches the same way that he tries today.”
On the other hand, Kyrgios admits himself that he is nowhere near to winning the biggest prizes in the sport. Saying he has a lack of commitment compared to others.
“I’m a great tennis player, but I don’t do the other stuff. I’m not the most professional guy. I won’t train day in, day out. I won’t show up every day.” He admits.
“So there’s a lot of things I need to improve on to get to that level that Rafa brings, Novak, Roger has been doing for so long. Just depends how bad I want it.”
Nadal now leads Kyrgios 4-3 in their head-to-head following their latest match. He will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga next.
