Nick Kyrgios has been slammed by tennis legend Pat Cash for his antics during his Wimbledon clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas. The 1987 champion proceeded to accuse the 27-year-old of ‘cheating’ and ‘abuse’ during the fiery encounter in the third round at the All England Club.
The world number 40 launched several verbal tirades towards the umpire in which he called him a ‘disgrace’. However, the reason for his outbursts was due to his opponent hitting a ball into the stands and almost hitting a spectator after losing the second set.
Tsitsipas was not defaulted but has been fined $10,000 (£8,250) for the incident, while Kyrgios must now pay $4,000 (£3,300) for his inappropriate language. The morning after the tense encounter on court one, Cash tore into the former world No 13 and made several accusations against his countryman. “It was absolute mayhem,” he told BBC Radio the morning after their controversy-filled match.
“He’s brought tennis to the lowest level I can see as far as gamesmanship, cheating, manipulation, abuse, aggressive behaviour to umpires, to linesmen.” The 57-year-old continued: “He was lucky to even get through the first set, he should have been defaulted in the first set.
“Something’s got to be done about it – it’s just an absolute circus. Is it entertaining? Yeah, possibly. It’s gone to the absolute limit now. The gamesmanship. The abuse he was giving. Tsitsipas would make a line call and he’d go up there and start complaining, he’d be in his face – that’s part of gamesmanship, that’s the sort of stuff he does and I think there’s a limit.”
Cash also accused the umpire of failing to control the situation, while admitting Tsitsipas was pulled into outdoing Kyrgios’ antics after the first set. “I have no problems with a bit of gamesmanship but, when it gets to that level, I think it’s just out of control,” he added. “As it was, the umpire lost control. The ball kids were running across the court as Kyrgios was serving, he didn’t slow down for any of that stuff. Tsitsipas got sucked right into it – so it was entertaining and fascinating, but for me it’s gone too far now.”
During a very honest press conference, Kyrgios defended his actions on court and accused Tsitsipas of being ‘soft’. “I didn't do anything,” he said. “I was actually like - apart from me just going back and forth to the umpire for a bit, I did nothing towards Stefanos today that was disrespectful, I don't think. I was not drilling him with balls.”
Tsitsipas meanwhile, accused Kyrgios of having an "evil side" and labelled him a "bully". “It’s constant bullying, that’s what he does,” the Greek star said. “He bullies the opponents. He was probably a bully at school himself. I don’t like bullies. I don’t 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, which if it’s exposed, it can really do a lot of harm and bad to the people around him. Myself, when I feel like other people disrespect me and don’t respect what I’m doing from the other side of the court, it’s absolute normal from my side to act and do something about it.”
