Nick Kyrgios has claimed he was threatened by the coach and trainer of his doubles opponents at the Australian Open on Friday.
Kyrgios and his good friend Thanasi Kokkinakis pulled off one of the results of the tournament so far by defeating top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the second round of the men’s doubles.
It was another raucous atmosphere but the flash point appears to have been when Kyrgios hit one of the Croatian duo with the ball.
Kyrgios wrote on Twitter: “Just letting you know after yesterday’s chop fest in doubles my opponents coach and trainer proceeded to threaten to fight in the players gym tennis is a soft soft sport @TKokkinakis all because I moved and hit them with a tennis ball.”
Kokkinakis replied: “That was crazy!! Mans thought it was @ufc.”
Mektic and Pavic would have had high hopes of winning the tournament but found themselves in the firing line for the Australian duo and their noisy supporters.
Daniil Medvedev was critical of the crowd after his singles victory over Kyrgios, and Pavic said: “They are pretty loud. Obviously they cheer for Aussies. It wouldn’t hurt them to show some respect to all opponents, to other players.”
Mektic added: “It all went very fast, very loud. They’re a nasty team to beat here and that’s it.”
