Nick Kyrgios Rocks Tsitsipas, Alize Cornet Shocks Swiatek
Wimbledon
July 2, 2022
Nick Kyrgios came through one of the most bad-tempered matches in Wimbledon history.
And you can bet he will be even bigger box office next time he plays.
After an unforgettable clash with Stefanos Tsitsipas, perhaps the score line was the simplest aspect to recount.
For the record, Kyrgios triumphed 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7). But that doesn’t even begin to tell the story.
Nick Kyrgios and the tension he generated against Tsitsipas at Wimbledon 2022 will live long in the memory.
And although there were several unsavoury aspects to this psychological thriller, the tennis world can’t wait for the next instalment involving anti-hero Kyrgios.
Aussie Nick began to get into his opponent’s head with a perfectly legal but totally outrageous ‘tweener underarm serve.
Then he complained about an equally legal Tsitsipas challenge to a service line-call. Kyrgios felt it was a cynical attempt to disrupt his rhythm.
‘An abuse of the system,’ Nick said, but there was worse to come.
When Tsitsipas fired a ball into the crowd in frustration and nearly hit a spectator, his rival insisted he should be defaulted.
Stefanos hit another ball into a scoreboard just below more spectators. The worst he received was a point deduction.
That didn’t stop him trying to hit Kyrgios with a tennis ball at almost point-blank range. Later he succeeded in striking his adversary with another shot.
Some thought Kyrgios should have been even more severely punished for constant abusive behaviour towards the umpire and others.
But he received no more than a warning and ultimately won the decisive psychological battle.
Tsitsipas was still complaining afterwards. He said: ‘It’s constant bullying. That’s what he does. He bullies the opponents. He was probably a bully himself at school.’
Kyrgios hit back: ‘I’m not sure how I bullied him. He was the one hitting balls at me, he was the one that (almost) hit a spectator, he was the one that smacked it out of the stadium…I didn’t think I was aggressive towards him.’
Their tennis was wonderful when the controversy wasn’t holding the world’s attention. Both men served like a dream but Kyrgios has that little bit more flare and stroke-play to go with his power.
And when he hit one shot into the ribbon and it dribbled over the net, he took a flamboyant bow instead of apologising.
Nick Kyrgios loves to play the pantomime villain and he has Wimbledon 2022 under his spell.
We thought Iga Swiatek would also stay centre-stage. But her incredible 37-match winning run came to an end when Alize Cornet shocked her 6-4, 6-2.
That surprise result must have former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep dreaming of glory once more.
Will you be there to see the drama unfold at Wimbledon 2022? There has never been anything like it!