“Disruptor with a different character” Marion Bartoli believes Nick Kyrgios is important to break trends in tennis


“Disruptor with a different character” Marion Bartoli believes Nick Kyrgios is important to break trends in tennis

Marion Bartoli, Nick Kyrgios

Nick Kyrgios has been on fire this grass season. The Aussie had made two consecutive semifinal appearances in his two grass-court tournaments and followed it up with a stupendous performance at Wimbledon to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal at SW19. Though many would argue that this has only been possible due to the weakened field due to the absence of many players like Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, and Matteo Berrettini, it has still been clinical from the ‘bad-boy’ to reach the semifinal.

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He faced Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round and the match was complete mayhem where Tsitsipas let Kyrgios get under his skin, suffered a meltdown, and then he lost the match in four sets and missed what could have been his chance at a semifinal at Wimbledon. Kyrgios was always a phenomenal player but his crass attitude, lack of seriousness towards the sport, and volatility had kept him from achieving his potential. But it seems he has got a second chance in life and his career at Wimbledon 2022.

Also Read: “A Wimbledon final beckons” Paul McNamee feels Nick Kyrgios has a golden opportunity despite all his demons

Marion Bartoli feels like Tsitsipas was surprised and unprepared for Nick Kyrgios’s antics in his match.

Nick Kyrgios
Nick Kyrgios

Marion Bartoli, the former Wimbledon champion believes Kyrgios is good for the sport. In an interview with Ubitennis, she said, “You either like him or you don’t. He will not make you feel middle ranged about him. We need people like this in tennis. Some sort of disruptor with a different character. I don’t think it is good to have everyone acting the same way.” “The limit is when you start to go against the umpire but he brings something new and different which is exciting for the game.”

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About the incident concerning his match Tsitsipas and later Tsitsipas’s scathing remarks on Kyrgios in the post-match press conference, Bartoli said, “He said what he felt on the court and that’s fair. You just have to respect that,” “At the end of the day we know what Nick is bringing to the court and it is not really surprising. It was almost as if Stefanos looked surprised by that which for me is something I wouldn’t have expected from him.”

“I think he has been doing extremely well this year, tennis-wise. He got a lot of confidence playing well on the grass before Wimbledon and he just loves the show.” “He loves the center stage and the way he played [against Brandon Nakashima] was brilliant. He didn’t go out way too much into his extreme where he would talk out loud all the time. It was just about his tennis. He’s always so exciting and he’s a great addition to the championships,“ Bartoli concluded

Also Read: Rafael Nadal admits he might hand a ‘walkover’ to Nick Kyrgios before the Wimbledon semi-final

Also Read: “He should tell his daughter that” When Serena Williams fired back at Novak Djokovic over his shocking equal pay remark

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