Nick Kyrgios of Australia spins his racket during his first round match against Jacob Fearnley of Britain at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia. (AP)
Former World No 1 Andy Roddick has launched a scathing attack on Nick Kyrgios for the Australian’s recent behaviour surrounding Jannik Sinner and Cruz Hewitt, calling him a ‘tennis influencer’.
Nick Kyrgios who is known to be outspoken has been one of the biggest critics of Jannik Sinner who failed two drug tests last year and still avoided a ban. Since then Kyrgios has openly criticised anyone who has spoken in support of Sinner and his latest critic was the 16-year-old Cruz Hewitt, son of Lleyton Hewitt. The teenager had posted a photo on Instagram where he is seen with Sinner after a training session at the Melbourne Park ahead of the Australian Open. Kyrgios commented on the post saying: “Love ya Cruz but this is wild.”
And this comment was enough for Roddick to step into the row. “At this point he is a tennis influencer. He lives for the likes, he lives in the comments section,” Roddick said on his podcast Served.
“What I have an issue with is the hypocrisy with which he picks and chooses when to levy judgment on others while also wanting you to digest the context of his comments – the latest being towards Cruz Hewitt.”
Roddick added: “Cruz Hewitt is 16 years old, son of Lleyton and the toughest competitor that I have ever played in my life, gets to hit with a guy who is No 1 in the world at the Australian Open. That is a big deal.”
Roddick also brought up the topic of Kyrgios pleading guilty to a domestic violence charge in 2023. “When you have moments in your life that aren’t the best. When you’ve pleaded guilty to physically assaulting your girlfriend, but you want people to understand the context,” opined Roddick.
“You wanted people to understand your moment in time and life that didn’t make this acceptable but at least maybe say ‘this isn’t who I am, this isn’t what I do – I’m not an abuser even though I plead guilty to abuse.’ It’s just hypocritical. It’s purely hypocritical,” Roddick said.
In response, Kyrgios has called Roddick a ‘sheep’.
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