Nick Kyrgios has blasted Norwegian tennis player Casper Ruud on social media following comments he made about their match that took place at the Italian Masters earlier this year.
Ruud, who is currently ranked 61st in the world, described the Australian as an ‘idiot on court’ when speaking about the first time they faced each other on the tour. He won the match when Kyrgios was defaulted after he threw a chair onto the court. The outburst was triggered after he was issued with a game penalty after seemingly swearing at one of the court officials. Kyrgios was later fined 20,000 euros and lost all the prize money he earned in the tournament.
“I don’t know, he was totally crazy when I played him.” Ruud said during a recent interview with Swedish website Tennisportalen.
“It was nice to win. If I celebrated after the match or not? I don’t care. I was happy I got 90 points and 50 000 dollars in prize money so why wouldn’t I celebrate? It’s his problem that he’s an idiot on court.”
Responding to the latest comments, Kyrgios has hit back. On his Twitter account the 24-year-old unleashed an attack on his rival. Describing his style of tennis as ‘boring AF’ and called him out for now saying anything to him in person.
“Hey @CasperRuud98 next time you have something to say, I would appreciate you say it to my face,” he wrote.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t run your mouth so much after that. Until then I will continue to rather watch paint dry (than) watch you play tennis, boring AF.”
In a second tweet, Kyrgios seemingly poked fun at Ruud’s popularity in the sport. Going on to retweet one comment which reads ‘Genuinely never heard of the guy until now.’
“But again, I also understand why you have to keep my name in your mouth, because people don’t even realise that you play tennis.” He continued.
“Goodluck in Milan (Next Gen Finals) champ x.”
Whilst Kyrgios is clearly bemused by a fellow player talking about him behind his back, some on social media have accused him of double standards. Earlier this year he spoke bluntly about a series of his rivals during a Podcast with No Challenges Remaining (NCR). In it, he said Novak Djokovic has a ‘sick obsession’ with wanting to be liked and described Rafael Nadal as ‘super salty.’
Kyrgios is currently on a six-month probation following his conduct at the Cincinnati Masters. At the tournament he was fined $113,000 for a series of penalties. Upon further investigation the ATP later deemed that he committed a major offence. Should he break any more rules during this period, Kyrgios faced a 16-week suspension from the ATP Tour.
There is yet to be a response from Ruud concerning Kyrgios’ tweets.
