Jannik Sinner & Nick Kyrgios urged to 'avoid' unsavory situation by Laura Robson in case of potential Australian Open clash amid feud over doping row
Former player and current tennis media member Laura Robson has reacted to Nick Kyrgios' recent comments where he said that if he were to face Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open, he would turn that match into a circus on purpose, trying to get the crowd to turn against him. The word he used was "riot," which got many tennis fans on social media to react negatively to his comments.
"I just want to go out there and I really want to play Sinner. Like I'm waiting for it man. If I played him in Australian Open, like I would get every single person in the crowd to just like get on him. Like I would just turn it into an absolute riot. Like I would lose all respect," Kyrgios said on the Nothing Major podcast.
Reacting to this, Robson said in a talk with Eurosport:
"I don't think you ever want a situation where all respect goes out the window. If we can avoid that, that would be great."
As for the matchup, she'd love to see it but is unsure how it would look if it were to be in the earlier rounds, which is more likely because of the ranking of Kyrgios as he won't be a seeded player.
"It would be super interesting if they played each other, especially in the early rounds, because Nick, he's an unpredictable player anyway. But if you played him first round, you just know that you're going to get no rhythm and you'll be walking side to side on his service games quite a lot as he aces you," she added.
In the end, nobody knows what would happen in a match like that, but it would be an interesting match for sure, especially if Kyrgios can find some of the form he had before getting injured.
Kyrgios' previous comments on Sinner
Nick Kyrgios has had some pretty sharp criticism of Sinner in the past. He was one of the players who utterly dismissed the way the case of Sinner's doping was handled as he thought that a player should be liable even if it was unintentional because ultimately he benefited from it.
"Ridiculous - whether it was accidental or planned. You get tested twice with a banned (steroid) substance… you should be gone for 2 years. Your performance was enhanced. Massage cream…. Yeah nice" Kyrgios posted on X in August 2024.
His post drew reactions from X users, who noted that the amount found would be insufficient to affect Sinner's performance. However, Kyrgios is fiercely opinionated, which is part of what makes him so beloved but also polarizing.