THANSAI KOKKINAKIS TOLD Nick Kyrgios he thought his infamous on-court comments were unacceptable, ahead of a potential clash between the two at the Western and Southern Open.
Kyrgios’ well-publicised “banged your girlfriend” rebuke at Stan Wawrinka at the Rogers Cup in Montreal implicated Kokkinakis and WTA Tour player Donna Vekic – and the South Australian took strong exception to his friend’s decision to publicise the alleged information.
Kokkinakis and Kyrgios could very well meet in the second round of the ATP 1000 event — Kokkinakis must first beat Fabio Fognini, while Kyrgios will face Wimbledon conqueror Richard Gasquet in the first round.
“He apologised to me,” Kokkinakis told tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg, via News Corp.
“I let him know, I made it pretty clear that he can’t be doing that. If he’s got a problem, he’s got to say it in private. The way he went about it definitely wasn’t the right thing.
“But yeah, as I said, I’ve qualified now, and I’m happy I’m in the main draw. I’ve got a tough match tomorrow, so I’ve got to focus on what I need to do.”
Kokkinakis said the ordeal had seen him suffer, although he managed to overcome a lack of sleep and win tight three-setters in Cincinnati qualifying.
“It’s been interesting, it’s been a circus,” he added. ”I haven’t gotten much sleep on the nights of the two incidents, yeah I didn’t get much sleep last night either, but luckily enough I recovered and I’m playing a tournament at the moment, so I’m trying to focus on that, and I’m happy I found a way to get the win.”
Kokkinakis chose to not further expand on the clash between him and Ryan Harrison in the first round of Cincinnati qualifying.
“Look, it obviously got pretty fiery out there,” he said. ”Didn’t agree with what he [Harrison] said to me at 6-5, because I think I did nothing to provoke him, but he brought up some stuff that I don’t agree with, and it is what it is, but I’ll keep that on the court.”
Kokkinakis and Harrison both mimicked one another during the match, which the former won via a third-set tie-break.
