Nick Kyrgios has blasted his detractors after tickets for his his exhibition clash with Novak Djokovic this Friday sold out in under an hour.
On Monday, Australian Open organisers announced that the two stars would go head to head in a ‘practice’ match at the Rod Laver Arena, forming part of the build up to the first Grand Slam of the season. The decision raised eyebrows, given the two could soon be meeting again for real Down Under.
It’s already been a tempestuous month for Kyrgios, who risked the wrath of his teammates by withdrawing from the United Cup team event just a day before the event began. His actions prompted a verbal feud with Australian co-captain Lleyton Hewitt, who Kyrgios accused of “throwing me under a bus.”
The 27-year-old then sparked fears he would be missing from Albert Park, when he also pulled out of the Adelaide 2 International event last week. But clearly still reeling from the critics of his inactivity, the Canberra man has now hit out on Twitter.
After journalist Luke Dennehy wrote: “Wow @NickKyrgios and @DjokerNole match on Friday sold out in 58 minutes. Wow!” the world No 21 responded with: “Wow Nick Kyrgios is bad for the sport! Wow what a disgrace, a national embarrassment! How dare he sell out another stadium, the arrogance.”
And former pro player Noah Rubin wasn’t spared either, after he tweeted: “This makes very little sense. An exho right before they could meet on an actual stage?” Kyrgios fired back with “Well to be fair it will bring more crowd than any of your matches.”
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Organisers have titled the event ‘The Arena Showdown’. All proceeds from ticket sales will go to the Australian Tennis Foundation, Tennis Australia and the Australian Open’s official charity. And in a tweet from the official tournament account, the two players were described as ‘fremenies’.
Indeed, there is no shortage of past volatility between Kyrgios and Djokovic, with the Australian calling the 21-time Slam winner “bone headed” following his ill-fated Adria Tour during the Covid pandemic. But the hostility softened 12 month ago when the Serbian was deported home from Australia after his explosive visa saga.
Djokovic overcame Kyrgios in the latter’s first major final at Wimbledon last summer. The pair had previously agreed that the runner up would treat the eventual champion to dinner when they went ‘clubbing together’ afterwards.
