“I was aiming for his body” Stefanos Tsitsipas admits hitting Nick Kyrgios purposefully after the Australian was ‘manipulating and distracting’ him
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Stefanos Tsitsipas deliberately hitting Nick Kyrgios
World No. 45 Nick Kyrgios defeated World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships to advance into the fourth round in what was a very high-intensity match on Court No. 1. Nick won the match 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(7) in 3 hours and 17 minutes as he continues his brilliant form on grass this season.
With both players often involved in controversy and not good friends on the Tour, controversies were expected in the match and the match was full of it. Throughout the match, with brilliant tennis shots, there was a passage of play when Stef was hitting the Australian on his body in order to win points, something not expected in the sport as despite being legal it is seen as unsportsmanlike. While many did not like the strategy of Stef at the time, the Greek explained later why he did so.
“There is no other player that does this”: Stefanos Tsitsipas on Nick Kyrgios’ antics
According to Stef, Nick had rallied the crowd and got them behind him and was talking to him in between points to ‘distract and manipulate’ him in order to throw off his concentration. Stef also went on to propose bringing a new rule in order to deal with this issue so that in future, these manipulative tactics won’t be allowed on the court.
“I wish we could all come together and put a rule in place. I don’t know. Something about talking. Why would you be talking while you’re playing? It makes no sense. Every single point that I played today I feel like there was something going on on the other side of the net. That’s his way of manipulating the opponent and making you feel distracted, in a way. There is no other player that does this.
“I really hope all us players can come up with something and make this a cleaner version of our sport, have this kind of behaviour not accepted, not allowed, not tolerated. I was aiming for the body of my opponent but I missed by a lot, I’m not used to playing this way. But I cannot just sit there, act like a robot and act like someone that is completely cold and ignorant. Because you’re out there doing your job, and you have noise coming from the other side of the court for no absolute reason,” said Stefanos in his post-match press conference.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)