Nick Kyrgios has slammed Bernard Tomic as ‘disrespectful’ after he was challenged to a tennis or even a boxing match. The pair engaged in a bitter spat earlier this week where the 29-year-old made the offer and proceeded to tell the Australian Open doubles champion to “shut his mouth”.
The 29-year-old then demanded that they 'sort this out as men'. Kyrgios strongly rejected his offer before claiming he felt sorry for the 2011 Wimbledon quarter-finalist. “He's not very good anymore, he's not relevant anymore, and he's obviously got money issues,” Kyrgios told the Courier Mail. “He's got a lot of struggles right now, and I feel for him. He's someone that had an extremely brutal upbringing and there's no denying that. But I feel like he lives in the past now, it's time to take ownership of your life, show some accountability.
“I know he's got the inspiration from Jake Paul, but that's not him. If someone calls me out, I will obviously respond. But at the same time, I know that he's got some deep-rooted issues and I feel sorry for him. For someone who actually tried to stand up for him before and tried to help him out, like my family's helped him out before, I paid for his flights back home from Shanghai because he had no money. So for him to come out and attack is extremely disrespectful I think.
"When he's challenging me for boxing matches - like first of all, I don't know who's going to put up $1 million for him because he's dead broke. Second of all, I have bigger fish to fry at the moment. I'm trying to get ready for Wimbledon. US Open. I've got off court contracts, tournaments still pay me to show up. And I don't think that's happening for him at the moment. But maybe one day, I would love to challenge him in there. I feel like I've got him on fitness.”
Kyrgios, who lost his only meeting with Tomic at the Kooyong classic 6-3 6-4 in 2019, initially told the former world number 17 they can settle their score on the ATP tour. Now the big serving Aussie is happy to settle their differences over a hot drink.
“We can literally talk it out of a coffee, I'm not afraid of feelings, figuring stuff out and having a man-to-man conversation. But intellectually, he's probably not the most switched on bloke.”
Speaking of grass courts, Kyrgios claimed he was the world's best player on the surface despite his ranking. He once again decided to skip the French Open in order to focus his attention on competing in the All-England Club.
When asked who he thought was the best in the world ahead of this year's Wimbledon, Kyrgios told the Sydney Morning Herald: "I mean, on the grass, I'd say me." Kyrgios has never won a grass court title, but did reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2014, stunning Rafael Nadal in the fourth round in four sets.
