Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas says he is not surprised that Nick Kyrgios has withdrawn from the United Cup after making a sarcastic comment about his peer during a press conference on Wednesday.
Kyrgios pulled out of the tournament just minutes before his team were set to speak to the media. Captain Sam Stosaur said she hadn’t spoken with the world No.22 about his decision. Tennis Australia confirmed his withdrawal was injury-related but provided no further information.
However, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper has since contacted a member of Kyrgios’ team who said it is a ‘precautionary measure’ ahead of the Australian Open. It is understood that the Wimbledon finalist hurt his ankle during an exhibition event he played last week in the Middle East.
Questioned about Kyrgios’ absence by the media, Tsitsipas couldn’t resist making a gentle swipe at the tennis star who he trails 1-4 in their head-to-head.
“I don’t see it as a surprise. I hope he enjoys his holidays,” he said.
The two players were involved in an explosive clash at Wimbledon earlier this year which saw Kyrgios argue with the umpire and Tsitsipas get penalised for firing a ball into the crowd out of anger. Afterwards, the Greek accused his peer of ‘being a bully’ and said he had an ‘evil side.’
More recently the two joined forces to play a doubles match at the Diriyah Tennis Cup in Saudi Arabia which they lost. Although Tsitsipas wasn’t entirely convincing about how much he enjoyed spending time with the Australian.
“It was tough to concentrate for sure,” he said.
“I don’t know where that energy comes from. There’s just so much of it.
“You want to go about your thing, you want to concentrate on your half of the court, and there’s just noise coming from the other side of it. It is distracting, it’s not easy.
“For sure in the future, having to face that at some point again, that is something that will have to be at its best in order to overcome that sort of obstacle that is presented on the other side of the net.”
Kyrgios is yet to comment on his current fitness or Tsitsipas’ remark.
As for Tsitsipas, he returns to competitive tennis on Thursday at the United Cup where he is scheduled to play Grigor Dimitrov.
