Nick Kyrgios and Jannik Sinner will probably no longer be friends in this life. The Australian has repeatedly complained against the tennis world number one since the Italian failed doping tests. Now a former Wimbledon champion is getting involved.
Marion Bartoli has had enough, the 40-year-old former tennis player is annoyed by Nick Kyrgios and his provocations against Jannik Sinner.
Kyrgios, who is planning his comeback on the court in 2025, recently sent pithy words towards Sinner in the “Nothing Major” podcast. He is eager to play against the 23-year-old at the Australian Open. But fair play doesn’t come first, on the contrary: “If I were to play against him at the Australian Open, I would try to turn every single person in the crowd against him. I would turn the whole thing into an absolute riot. I would throw all respect out the window and I would do anything to win.”
Bartoli was anything but “surprised” by the words of the 29-year-old, who has been cultivating his bad boy image in the tennis circus for years. In an interview with “RMC Sport,” the Frenchwoman said: “Kyrgios lives and breathes nothing other than provocative statements.”
With Kyrgios, you simply don’t know “what’s going through his head,” said the ex-tennis player. But one thing is clear: “Sinner will not respond to it under any circumstances. And if he plays against him on the court, on the one hand we have the number one, who has won two Grand Slam titles and currently seems unbeatable, and on the other hand the other a Nick Kyrgios, who has not played an official match since June 13, 2023.”
Too cowardly? Kyrgios defends himself
However, Kyrgios did not stop at his comments regarding a possible encounter with Sinner. On the short message service
“ESPN told me not to do that,” said Kyrgios about the real reason why an interview didn’t take place. Apparently the broadcaster was afraid that the mood in the conversation might be too tense.
Over the summer, Kyrgios repeatedly expressed sharp criticism of Sinner after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced that the tennis superstar tested positive twice for the banned steroid Clostebol in early March.
Sinner stated that he had been massaged by one of his carers, who had treated his own wound with the steroid. A court found this explanation to be credible, so the tennis professional was acquitted. That acquittal was harshly criticized by Sinner’s colleagues like Kyrgios.