Australia’s World No. 22 tennis star Nick Kyrgios lashed out at his critics who were trolling him after withdrawing from the inaugural edition of the ‘United Cup’. Reciting his injuries recovery the 27-year-old said that he wanted to be in peak condition for next month’s Australian Open.
Kyrgios, the 2022 Wimbledon finalist, was set to represent Australia in the first edition of the United Cup, but withdrew himself on Wednesday. This reportedly even took his own teammates by surprise.
Explaining the reason, Kyrgios said,
“People underestimate the pressure and the nerves with being a part of one of the biggest tournaments of the year.”
“Throw in an injury and knowing you didn’t give yourself the best chance only adds to the mountain of pressure you face. So feeling good physically is important,” he told reporters in an open interview on Thursday.
“We all worked together to try and get the best outcome. Not everyone is going to understand or see it from my side and that is okay,” he stated.
“… I was working every day very closely with my team about my progression and speaking with William, my physio, after every session. I tried to be ready for it, but at some point you need to listen to the advice you’re receiving and do what is best.”
Kyrgios then took to Twitter to respond to any criticism that had come his way.
“Haha so after all this, all the media, journalism saying how bad I am for the sport, disrespecting the game (and) just a pure villain, I am going to be the number one episode on Netflix… to grow our fan base, basically trying to put tennis on the map again,” he wrote
“And essentially putting more money in everyone’s pockets that’s involved with tennis, you all look really ridiculous now your apology should be as loud as your disrespect was,” he added in a followup tweet.
Coming to the ‘United Cup’— It’s an international hard court mixed gender tournament. There are 18 countries as participants in the first edition of the tournament, starting on Friday, December 30.
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