“He paints himself as a pantomime bad guy” Laura Woods criticises Nick Kyrgios for spitting towards fans at Wimbledon
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Nick Kyrgios and Laura Wood
Nick Kyrgios is into the third round of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships after a brilliant and rampant performance in the second round wrapping up a straight-set victory in less than 90 minutes. While his performance certainly deserved credit, his actions from his first-round win over Paul Jubb continue to make the headlines as many felt he crossed the line big time there.
With Kyrgios not always the crowd favourite and often finds himself on the opposing side of the spectators, the match against Jubb was no different for the Australian which he won in 5-sets after a long battle of more than 3 hours played on Court 3. Jubb had support as he was the local lad while Kyrgios’ antics ensured that he was the second favourite for the day, at least on Court 3.
“You are going to attract praise and criticism”: Laura Woods on Nick Kyrgios’ actions
In retaliation for being the recipient of racial slurs, Kyrgios admitted to going towards the stands and spitting at some section of fans. Kyrgios had no remorse for his actions and believed that the fan deserved it for directing hate towards Nick. Kyrgios was also involved in a bust-up with the chair umpire over line calls and had criticised the on-court officials for their poor decision making including some elder lineswoman who had given a call against Nick much to his shock.
“He paints himself as a pantomime bad guy and I’m sure he plays up to it, he knows how to whip up a frenzy of media, which he did yesterday. The parts for me that go too far – I don’t mind players being vocal and in the past, I’ve actually enjoyed Kyrgios – but when I watched this I felt uncomfortable. It was especially the comments towards the line judge, saying ‘you’ve got no fans, nobody is here to hear her speak’. She is there to do a job, she’s not there to have a fanbase like you seem to think you do.
“For me, it was a spectacular display of complete ignorance and I didn’t enjoy it. Listen, you are a sportsperson, you are in the public eye, you are going to attract praise and criticism. If someone is booing you, fair enough. Walking off the court and spitting towards them? For me, that goes far beyond. You can be amusing and have a back-and-forth with the umpire. I didn’t enjoy the way he was speaking to her either. It all went a bit too far. I think he’s in danger of losing a lot of goodwill that people have towards him. Nobody wants to see that. Nobody should be doing that.” said British presenter Laura Woods.
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Sarthak Shitole
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