“Accidents happen but we can go out of our way to make things better,” Nick Kyrgios makes amends with the ball boy after violently smashing his racket towards him
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Nick Kyrgios
Today Nick Kyrgios got himself involved in a major fiasco while playing against the 21-time grand slam champion Rafael Nadal in the 2022 Indian Wells Quarterfinals. In between the match, out of anger, Kyrgios banged his racquet on the ground so hard that rather than just breaking, the racquet bounced back and twirled towards a ball boy standing nearby.
The Australian star is known for his tenaciousness and temper. However, he also has a friendly side that makes fans respect and look up to him. This year, Nick Kyrgios won the doubles of the Australian Open but then due to his reoccurring asthma problem and then getting tested positive for Covid 19, he could compete until the BNP Paribas Open.
“It was a complete accident,” Nick Kyrgios admits his mistake.
Not having lost a single set since competing in the Indian Wells, Kyrgios couldn’t stand the fact of failing after coming so far against the Spaniard ( 6-7, 7-5, 4-6 ). Unable to control his anger, the Aussie broke his racket with the entire audience, including Hollywood actor Ben Stiller overlooking the match. However, after finishing the game and shaking hands with the umpire, Kyrgios laid waste to another racket; however, this time, instead of just breaking, it hurled towards a ball boy nearby, almost hitting him.
Since the ball boy has fast instincts, he dodged it, just barely escaping an injury that would not have been painless. This incident made Kyrgios extremely apologetic, “I just want to apologize to that ball kid at the end of the match,” Nick Kyrgios spread a message on Instagram. “It was a complete accident, and was frustrated at the end of the match. My racket took a crazy bounce and was never my intention. If anyone knows who that ball kid is, send me a message and I will send a racket to him. I’m glad he’s ok!”. The Aussie went through a great deal to get the boy’s number and then personally showed his sincere apologies.
His message read, “Sorry about my racket accident at the end! Complete accident, you all ok from it?” He even offered to send a racquet as a token of his apology.” To this, the Ball boy with the Instagram ID Tei Park replied, “Thanks for reaching out, I’m completely fine. I would love to get a racket. I’ll be back at the courts tomorrow.” The conversation went on with Kyrgios ending, “No stress, see you tomorrow!”
Nick Kyrgios’s reaction post-incident
When asked about the incident in the press conference, Kyrgios lashed out at the journalist and said that his actions were obviously unintentional. “What would you like me to say about it?” Kyrgios said out of frustration. “Obviously, was that my intention? No. Because I threw the racquet. Did I throw the racquet anywhere near him originally? It landed a meter from my foot and skidded and nearly hit him,” Having just lost a match and then this accident occurring, did not settle with Kyrgios immediately.
He continued to mention, “I’m human. Things happen like that. Obviously it was a very misfortunate bounce. I think if I did that a million times over it wouldn’t have gone that way.” After being criticized for “unsportsmanlike conduct,” he apologized to the umpire and, in general, for his behavior. Regardless of what happened, nothing changes the fact that Kyrgios personally reached out to the ball boy, apologized to him, and offered to send him a racquet.
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Varsha Srikumar
(135 Articles Published)