Nick Kyrgios notoriously lashes out during his tennis matches when he gets upset about a shot or a call, so one might expect he would understand when another player reacted in a similar way.
Well, Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev seems to have changed Kyrgios’s mindset about certain ways players can take out their frustrations. In the second set of Rublev’s match against Carlos Alcaraz in the group stage of the ATP Finals on Wednesday, the No. 5 player began hitting his racket on his knee as hard as he could.
Kyrgios, who was making his debut as an analyst on The Tennis Channel this week, even thought this reaction seemed a bit extra.
“I mean, from someone who holds their composure pretty well, like myself, this is crazy,” Kyrgios joked. “I’ve never done that, to be honest. I mean, he needs a knee.”
Even @NickKyrgios believes Rublev went overboard when he smashed his knee with his racquet 😂#TCLive pic.twitter.com/av43izjEFI
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) November 15, 2023
Former tennis star Andy Roddick was also on the show, and he was quick to point out the irony of Kyrgios’s stance on Rublev.
“That’s the Kyrgios special—no emotion, just straight to the towel, no problem,” Roddick joked.
The analysts went on to explain that Rublev’s actions seemed outlandish because he was inflicting pain onto himself and not just an inanimate object like the racket. As Roddick says, the racket can be replaced, so it isn’t worth giving yourself a potential injury.
Kyrgios hasn’t played all year as he first dealt with a knee injury before the Australian Open, then a wrist injury before Wimbledon. He hopes to return to play soon, but hasn’t set an exact date.
Rublev ultimately lost the match to Alcaraz, 7-5, 6-2.
