It was easy to feel sympathy for the 23-year-old Tsitsipas who won the first set but lost his composure after being caught up in what he described as a Kyrgios circus.
Greek fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas labelled Nick Kyrgios a “bully” with “an evil side” to his character after losing a bad-tempered Wimbledon third-round clash on Saturday.
“Yeah, it’s constant bullying, that’s what he does. He bullies the opponents. He was probably a bully at school himself. I don’t like bullies,” Tsitsipas said. “You can’t hit a ball into a crowd and hit someone and not be defaulted,” Kyrgios bellowed at chair umpire Damien Dumusois over and over, while pointing out to the Frenchman that Novak Djokovic was booted out of the 2020 US Open for striking a lineswoman with a ball.“I would like to speak a supervisor. I’m not playing until I speak to a supervisor. Bring out more supervisors. I’m not done. Bring them all out.
“That’s his way of manipulating the opponent and making you feel distracted, in a way. There is no other player that does this. There is no other player that is so upset and frustrated all the time with something. Kyrgios left his fans’ heart-in-mouth after falling awkwardly in the opening game of the fourth set and staying down for seemingly an age, clutching his right hip, but he eventually rose to have the last laugh, recovering to defeat Tsitsipas for the fourth time in as many tour outings and advance to the last 16.
“I’ve got ultimate respect for him. Whatever happens on the sport, I love him and I’m close to his brother so ...”