"How it started" - Nick Kyrgios shares photo with a young Stefanos Tsitsipas following their doubles match at Diriyah Tennis Cup
Nick Kyrgios shared a couple of pictures of himself with Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas following their doubles match at the Diriyah Tennis Cup on Friday.
Kyrgios shared the court with Tsitsipas at the exhibition tournament in Riyadh after being paired together in doubles. As per the tournament rules, players who suffer defeats in the opening two rounds of the singles competition are drawn together to form doubles pairs.
After the match, Kyrgios took to Instagram to share a couple of pictures with his fans. The first was alongside Tsitsipas during the doubles encounter, while the second was a picture of the duo from many years ago.
"how it’s going vs how it started…," the 27-year-old captioned the post.
The Tsitsipas-Kyrgios pairing was defeated by Hubert Hurkacz and Dominic Stricker, 7-6(3) 7-6(3).
The duo played out an intense and ill-natured encounter at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, with the Australian winning in four sets. After the match, Tsitsipas labeled Kyrgios a "bully."
Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas lost in the opening round at the Diriyah Tennis Cup
Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas faced off against the same opponent, Cameron Norrie, in their respective opening matches at the Diriyah Tennis Cup. Both players fell to the British No. 1.
Nick Kyrgios met Norrie in the first round, whereas top seed Tsitsipas received a bye in the opening round and squared off against the World No. 14 in the quarterfinals.
Norrie played a solid match against Kyrgios. He was excellent with his forehand returns and a rusty-looking Kyrgios wasn't up to the mark. The match ended 10-6, 10-6 in favor of the British player as he advanced to the last eight.
Norrie was in command for the entirety of his quarterfinal against Tsitsipas, outclassing the Greek in straight sets. He wrapped up the proceedings in just over 70 minutes, with the scoreline reading 6-4, 6-4.