Australian tennis legend Lleyton Hewitt suggested Nick Kyrgios got into Stefanos Tsitsipas’ head and added the Australian is one of the rare players that can actually play well with a chaos going on. In what was a very heated battle right from the start until the end, Kyrgios won 6-7 (2) 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7) to progress into the Wimbledon last-16.
Both Kyrgios and Tsitsipas were going at it throughout the entire match as Kyrgios wanted Tsitsipas defauled after the Greek fired the ball into the crowd after losing the second set. On the other side, Tsitsipas seemingly tried to hit Kyrgios several times but was unsuccessful in each attempt.
Tsitsipas wasn’t happy with Kyrgios’ behavior as he described it is a “circus.”
Hewitt: Tsitsipas lost his head, while Kyrgios can play well with chaos going on
“It was an epic and it was always going to be between those two players,” Hewitt told Eurosport.
“But now the pressure swings and there will be a lot more pressure and expectation on Nick every time he goes out there now for the rest of the tournament. It was probably over the top in the end because it became not a tennis match.
There was everything going on and it wasn’t just the incredible skill of the two players out there on the court. It was strange. It played into Nick’s wheelhouse though. Everything turned and Tsitsipas lost his head and his emotions in the end and it cost him the match.
Nick can play with chaos going on. Not many people can, but he can. We’ve seen at the Australian Open in the doubles when it was a big scene like that, that is when he plays his best tennis. His opponents have to be prepared for that.
They know at some stage in a lot of matches stuff like that is going to happen.” Tsitsipas called Kyrgios “bully” after the match, while Kyrgios responded by calling him “soft” and also suggested the Greek is not considered as a very likable player in the locker room.
