THERE’S TRASH TALK — and then there’s this from Nick Kyrgios.
The Australian tennis player was caught sledging Stan Wawrinka on Wednesday night when on-court microphones heard him sneer, “Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend. Sorry to tell you that mate.”
The comment, made during the pair’s Rogers Cup match in Montreal, was a reference to Kyrgios’s Davis Cup team-mate Thanasi Kokkinakis. Wawrinka reportedly started dating 19-year-old Croatian tennis pro Donna Vekic earlier this year.
“So disappointing to see a fellow athlete and colleague be so disrespectful in a way I could never even imagine,” world number five Wawrinka tweeted after he retired from the match through injury.
“What was said I wouldn’t say to my worst enemy. To stop so low is not only unacceptable but also beyond belief.”
Kyrgios, who is rapidly developing a reputation as one of tennis’s bad boys, was asked about the incident in a post-match TV interview.
“He was getting a bit lippy with me,” he said. “Kind of in the heat of the moment.
“I don’t know. I just said it.”
– First published 08.40
