Nick Kyrgios is facing calls to be sacked from his commentary position at the US Open over a comment he made about ex-girlfriend Anna Kalinskaya.
In response to a picture of himself alongside Kalinskaya at an LA Lakers basketball match in 2020, Kyrgios wrote on X: ‘Second serve’.
Kalinskaya, a Russian tennis player, is currently dating world No.1 Jannik Sinner, who will face Taylor Fritz in the final of the US Open men’s singles on Sunday evening.
When a tennis fan account shared the post and Kyrgios’ response on X, the Australian wrote: ‘Right… so I’m the one that’s the bad guy for saying something about it? I never brought it up lol… don’t take offence if people are gonna bring it up. Simple.’
Another X user replied to Kyrgios asking: ‘You truly don’t understand what abusive language and respect is towards another human being?’
However, Kyrgios defended his comment as he replied: ‘Abusive? What’s abusive about what I said?
‘I had no intention to say anything about it. People wanna go there deal with the consequences.’
Kyrgios has been working as a commentator and pundit for ESPN during the US Open but the broadcaster is now facing calls to remove the 29-year-old from his position.
American tennis TV commentator Jon Wertheim wrote on X: ‘Nick Kyrgios once made a misogynistic, wildly inappropriate comment about a WTA player, drew the anger of her ATP player boyfriend, his coach, and much of the locker room…but didn’t face real consequence, dismissed, as it was, as youthful indiscretion. That was 2015. He’s 29 now.’
Tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg wrote: ‘Honestly a bit surprised to see ESPN didn’t yank Nick Kyrgios off air mid-US Open final, seeing his most recent disparaging tweet about a WTA player circulating.
‘Given his history of demeaning women, women’s tennis, and WTA players, it was already a dubious choice to have him.’
A Jannik Sinner fan account wrote: ‘Disgusting, Kyrgios continues to show his true nature. Well done ESPN.’
Kyrgios, meanwhile, has publicly criticised Sinner and has insisted that the Italian should be banned after two positive drug tests.
Sinner tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid clostebol during the Indian Wells tournament in March this year. The 23-year-old was provisionally suspended but successfully appealed and was allowed to keep playing.
Sinner’s explanation was that was given a spray, which contained clostebol, by his medical team to treat a wound on his finger. Kyrgios subsequently claimed that the decision not to ban the Italian is not ‘fair and equal’ to the rest of the players on the ATP Tour.
‘I think I stand by every word. Everything I put on social media I have to stand up for,’ Kyrgios said last month
‘I’ve seen many of my friends go through doping things and being suspended.
‘We’ve seen players like Halep and everyone and it seems like every time one of these things comes up, there’s always a different process for different players. It’s nothing against Sinner personally at all. I know how important he is. He’s one of the greatest tennis players we have right now.. and how important he’s gonna be for the next 15 years. I’m not denying any of that.
‘Nothing against him personally. If you look at Jenson Brooksby.. players who’ve had their careers taken away for up to a year.. and someone like Sinner just kind of doing it his own kind of way. I think he had it on his own terms for most of the time. I don’t think that’s fair and equal for the rest of the tour.’
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