Stan Wawrinka attempted to close the book on his lingering dispute with Nick Kyrgios on Wednesday night, claiming the young Australian had lost the respect of many players on both the men’s and women’s Tours and had hurt innocent people.
The world No4 spoke calmly but with conviction to reporters after beating the rising Croat Borna Coric 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 to advance to the third round of the Cincinnati Masters, where he will meet the teenager’s compatriot Ivo Karlovic.
“I was struggling today,” the French Open champion admitted less than a fortnight before the US Open, after surviving a dip in energy and focus to close out the match in two and a quarter hours.
Earlier, he told Sky Sports he wanted to say no more about his row with Kyrgios, who last week uttered the now infamous barb: “[Thanasi] Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend [Donna Vekic]. Sorry to tell you that, mate.”
Kyrgios, one way and another, has been sorry ever since – although not repentant enough for Wawrinka, who said later he had not received a full and proper apology, despite the player’s assertion to that effect.
“Not the way that you want to say it,” Wawrinka said after sustained questioning. “He didn’t really apologise to the people that he should have.”
Asked how he had coped with the pressure, he said: “For you, I would say it’s quite easy: you write the story, you agree, you disagree, you try to see what is the problem, what is not the problem, what’s the limit, what is not the limit. No one really sees the consequences for the people involved. That’s why it’s tough to deal with.”
As for what those consequences may be, he said: “Ah, that’s going too far. Next week you will all have another story. For me, I have to deal with it.”
While the story of Kyrgios’s side-of-the-mouth sledge had looked done and dusted after the ATP fined him a total of $12,500 (£8,000) for that and a related offence, it seems the association run by players’ representatives and tournament directors may yet fine him further or even suspend him.
Wawrinka did not want to buy into that, other than to say: “I honestly think I’m not the person who can decide what he deserves or not. I’m confident in the ATP. They know what they are doing.”
He said he and the people involved “still talk a lot about it; for sure, it’s quite fresh”. But he did not think it would affect his preparation for the final major of the season.
“No. I know myself. I know how to get ready for a grand slam. I know how I deal with everything. I’m sure I’m going to be ready for the US Open.”
As the press conference hovered between expectation and resolution, Wawrinka smiled again and asked: “No more English questions? I don’t want to talk about it any more, so let’s finish it today.”
So, with a final flurry as sound as the one with which he had earlier finished off Coric, he revealed the locker room has been with him from the beginning, an assertion supported by a variety of insiders on both Tours.
“There was a lot of anger in the locker room about what he did. As a player, you realise more what he did and what is the consequence for the private lives of people involved. They were not just a few words. With one sentence, he can touch and hurt a lot of people. I had a lot of support in the locker room, that’s for sure.”
Nor was Wawrinka much concerned about the repeated interventions of Kyrgios’s brother, Christos, and his presence courtside during the Australian’s quick defeat by Richard Gasquet in the first round.
“Good for him, if he wants to be there. I know he has no access in the players’ area, no credentials. I have nothing to say about him.”
Gasquet beat Kokkinakis (who also has chided his compatriot Kyrgios) 7-6, 6-2, and next plays the defending US Open champion, Marin Cilic, while Serena Williams, gearing up for the first calendar slam since Steffi Graf’s in 1988, got back on track after losing to the eventual champion, Belinda Bencic, in Toronto by beating the 42nd-ranked Tsvetana Pironkova 7-5, 6-3.
