“They were a bit salty because they LOST” Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis take a dig at their opponents following locker room scuffle!
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Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis
Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis staged a massive upset against 1st seeded duo of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the second round of the Australian Open 2022. The Australian pair managed to defeat their opponents in straight sets 7-6, 6-3.
Kyrgios revealed after the match on Twitter, that the Croatian pair’s coach and trainer threatened them in the gym, following their win over the World No.1 duo.
Kokkinakis reveals details of the alleged back room spat
The pair were later asked about the alleged confrontation in the locker room following their third-round win, to which Kokkinakis replied that Pavic’s fitness trainer was the one who started the scuffle.
“It was pretty funny, I’m not going to lie, me and Nick were trying to be professionals after our doubles match. It was Pavic’s fitness trainer and he came up and smashed a foam roller against a pole as hard as he can and I thought he was kind of joking, I wasn’t sure if he was going to berate his players,” Kokkinakis said during their post-match conference.
He also added that the trainer confronted Kyrgios and accused him of hitting the ball toward his opponent on purpose, which Kokkinakis defended saying, it’s part of the game.
“Then he came up to Nick and said we’re being disrespectful, Nick had hit the player with the ball but that’s natural. Doubles players have unbelievable hands so you have to go at them,” he said.
“They said we were showboating but it was just our energy and they were a bit salty because they lost, they’ve won their fair share of tournaments but I thought they’d handle losing a little bit better than that. At the end of the day we’re just trying to entertain the crowd we didn’t mean anything disrespectful, it’s all aggressive on his part for sure,” he further added.
Kyrgios concluded by taking a cheeky dig at his opponents saying, “Enjoy your flight.”
Meanwhile, Pavic expressed his displeasure regarding the crowd, and said that he understand the support the crowd shows for their own players, but all players deserve some respect.
“Yeah, it’s loud. They are pretty loud. Obviously, they cheer for Aussies, it wouldn’t hurt them to show some respect to all opponents, to other players. We saw yesterday also with Medvedev how it was. So, yeah, I mean, that’s how they are here. We’re used to that. But like I said, yeah, it wouldn’t hurt them to show some respect,” he said.
Both Kokkinakis and Kyrgios are out of contention in singles, but their campaign in doubles continues as they take on Tim Putz and Michael Venus in the quarter-final match on Tuesday.
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T Rushitha
(360 Articles Published)