Nick Kyrgios took a cheeky shot at Stefanos Tsitsipas when discussing his return to Washington and having Jack Sock as his doubles partner. In 2019, Kyrgios and Tsitsipas teamed up for the Washington doubles event. In their team debut, Kyrgios and Tsitsipas suffered a 6- 3 3-6 10-5 first round loss to Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
At this past Wimbledon, Kyrgios and Tsitsipas clashed in the third round, with the Australian claiming a four-set victory. After the match, Tsitsipas described Kyrgios as “evil bully,” while Kyrgios responded by calling Tsitsipas “soft.”
“We got a lot of doubles. We got doubles in DC. Which I’m super excited about. My last partner – yeah, I’ve had Stefanos as a partner there so can’t get much worse than that so I’m really excited,” Kyrgios said in a conversation for the Citi Open.
“I think it’s my time to get out of here,” Sock said with a laugh.
Clash is still on between Nick Kyrgios and Stef Tsitsipás 😬
(🎥 @CitiOpenon IG) pic.twitter.com/0Pc7jkhbV0 — We Are Tennis (@WeAreTennis) July 23, 2022
Tsitsipas described Kyrgios as an ‘evil bully’
After exiting Wimbledon, Tsitsipas made it clear he wasn’t happy at all with Kyrgios’ behavior during the match.
“It’s constant bullying,” Tsitsipas said of Kyrgios’ behavior. “He was probably a bully at school. I don’t like bullies. He has a very evil side to him.” In his press conference, Kyrgios said he didn’t feel he bullied Tsitsipas in any way.
“I’m not sure how I bullied him. He was the one hitting balls at me, hitting a spectator. I didn’t do anything. Apart from me going back and forth with the umpire a bit. I didn’t do anything towards Stefanos today that was disrespectful, I don’t think,” Kyrgios said when asked about Tsitsipas’ comments.
Meanwhile, Kyrgios is set to return to action in Atlanta after finishing runner-up at Wimbledon. Kyrgios, who is the seventh seeded player in the Atlanta main draw, plays a qualifier in the first round. Kyrgios is also set to compete in the Atlanta doubles event as he and Thanasi Kokkinakis are set to meet Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the first round.