3 crazy things that happened during and after the ill-tempered contest between Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas at Wimbledon
Nick Kyrgios advanced to the fourth round of Wimbledon after an eventful and tumultuous victory over fourth seed Stefanos Ttistispas.
Kyrgios lost the first set but bounced back to get past his opponent, who displayed obvious signs of frustration on the court before going down 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6.
A fair share of drama was on display even as the two players gave it their all but were not shy of being vocal or venting their emotions. Three code violations were issued over the course of the contest.
We take a look at three crazy events that transpired during and after this stormy encounter.
#3 Nick Kyrgios asks for Tsitsipas to be defaulted after he hits a ball towards the crowd at the end of the second set
Tsitsipas deliberately hit the ball in the direction of the crowd after losing the set against Kyrgios. The Aussie then walked up to the chair umpire and demanded that his opponent be defaulted as he very nearly hit a spectator.
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#Wimbledon https://t.co/GrcodXoHCe
"What are you talking about, bro?' Bring out more supervisors. I'm not done. Bring them all out. I don't care. I'm not playing until we get to the bottom of this," Nick Kyrgios could be heard saying.
Kyrgios now wants Tsitsipas to be defaulted for hitting someone in the crowd.
"Give me all the Supervisors. I'm not playing until we get to the bottom of it".
Remembers Djokovic's US Open default, says this one is similar.
Novak Djokovic, who hit a lineswoman during the 2020 US Open, was defaulted for a similar act.
Nick Kyrgios calls the supervisor and asks for Stefanos Tsitsipas to be defaulted as the Greek sent a ball into the crowd in frustration after losing the second set.
Did it hit anyone? Not clear from the press seats... #Wimbledon https://t.co/p28pUsV33x
Tsitsipas' reckless act was pardoned possibly because the ball appeared to miss the spectator in the stands, but that didn't stop Kyrgios from calling the chair umpire "dumb."
"Are you dumb?," said Nick Kyrgios while confronting the umpire.
#2 Three code violations and underarm serves in an unruly contest
The fiery and ill-tempered encounter witnessed three code violations being issued.
Umpire Damien Dumusois was in the thick of things for much of the contest as he attempted to restore sanity even as both players exhibited unruly behavior.
An audible obscenity from the Aussie propelled the umpire to hand out a code violation. Tsitsipas, meanwhile, was handed a couple of code violations for ball abuse.
Despite the chaos, Kyrgios is playing very well.
His dialogue with the chair umpire has also calmed considerably. Only "Can I get a banana...please?" on this changeover.
Tsitsipas gets first code violation I've seen for a ball hit during live play, launching it hard and long.
Kyrgios has now been accused of "threatening" the chair umpire after warning him of dire consequences for his inaction.
"I cannot believe the amount of s*** this tournament is going to get because of you is insane," Nick Kyrgios said.
Underarm serves from Kyrgios - including one that provoked the 23-year-old to hit the ball towards the back fence - contributed to the chaos out in the middle.
THIS WAS COLD-BLOODED đ„¶ https://t.co/2e1eu0GVwQ
Another tricky underarm serve that the 27-year-old pulled off fetched mixed reactions.
A brief handshake at the end of the contest did nothing to quell the animosity between the players as accusations and counters followed in the post-match press conference.
#3 Accusations and counters at fiery post-match press conferences
The drama that played out during the game spilt over into the post-match press conference. Tsitsipas called his opponent a "bully" and used the term "evil" to describe Kyrgios' antics.
"Itâs constant bullying, thatâs what he does. He bullies the opponents. He was probably a bully at school himself. I donât like bullies. I donât like people that put other people down. He has some good traits in his character, as well. But he also has a very evil side to him,â Tsitsipas said.
The Aussie retorted by stating that Tsitsipas should find a way to beat him rather than indulge in accusations.
âI would be pretty upset if I lost to someone two weeks in a row as well. Maybe he should figure out how to beat me a couple more times first and then get to that,â Nick Kyrgios responded.
Nick Kyrgios will now take on Brandon Nakashima for a place in the Wimbledon semifinals.