Australian Open: Nick Kyrgios Instagram post, Novak Djokovic feud
Nick Kyrgios is loving life despite an early exit from the Australian Open – and has bonded with controversial American star Tennys Sandgren over the Australian’s tense rivalry with superstar Novak Djokovic.
Aus Open
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- ‘Super pretty’ umpire Marijana Veljovic remains a mystery
- Novak Djokovic offers support to controversial Margeret Court
Australia’s two tennis stars have let their hair down in slightly different ways.
World No.1 Ash Barty posted a picture on Instagram of her family and support team all lounging around her hotel room drinking beers and coffee martinis following her semi-final loss.
She captioned the pic: ‘Cheers to our Australian summer. Wouldn’t want to share it with any other team’.
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Nick Kyrgios has found a new best friend in quarter-finalist Tennys Sandgren and we’re tipping their celebration was on a different level.
After his heartbreaking loss to Roger Federer, the American tweeted: “What’s the rule here folks — a double shot for each match point you didn’t convert?”
What’s the rule here folks- a double shot for each match point you didn’t convert?
— Tennys Sandgren (@TennysSandgren) January 28, 2020
Kyrgios posted a picture of his entourage with Sandgren but his caption wasn’t as innocent as Barty’s.
It appears the pair share the same opinion about Novak Djokovic given the tongue-in-cheek words: “Tennys and I love Novak”.
As we know Kyrgios famously went on the record on a podcast last year saying he had issues with Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
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One of the great moments of the summer of tennis has been Kyrgios leading the way on the bushfire relief.
From day one he set the tone by urging the tennis world to come together to raise funds and he also pledge $200 for every ace he hit.
His tally has crept over the $90,000 mark with the help of one of his sponsors.
Kyrgios’ raised $20,700 at the ATP Cup and $30,000 at the Australian Open (which Grilled Burgers then matched).
American legend and commentator John McEnroe also jumped on board pledging $1000 for every set the Aussie won at Melbourne Park which was 10.
Women’s semi-finalist Simona Halep also pledged money but it wasn’t for every ace but instead for every time she gave her Aussie coach Darren Cahill a “hard time” during matches.
After a frustrating exit at the hands of Garbine Muguruza, Halep said she was good for the cash but was waiting for Cahill to come up with the tally.
“Definitely I will have more (after) today. I will do 100 per cent,” Halep said. “I’ll just let him calm down a little bit, then I will ask.”
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Sofia Kenin was still in her playing uniform from her upset of Ash Barty when her mind had turned to what she might spend her Australian Open prize money on.
The worst case result is $2.065 million jumps in for runner-up or $4.12 million if she can win her maiden Grand Slam over Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.
Fellow American Bethane Mattek-Sands recorded a video with her friend and asked her what was at the top of her shopping list.
Kenin didn’t need much think music with some Cartier jewellery, including a specific nail ring, with lots and lots of diamonds.
The 21-year-old loves shopping which is why she wants to live in New York on Fifth Ave because “I’m a fancy girl, I like those shops”.
Post Match Interview pt. 3 🎥 Peter’s first shopping splurge for making the #FINALS â‰ï¸#AO2020 🇦🇺 #GameSetMattek 🔥@Cartier better watch out, @SofiaKenin is coming for you! @WTA #SobeWanKenobi pic.twitter.com/gSovTj9LLD
— Bethanie MattekSands (@matteksands) January 30, 2020
THE WHISPER
Some raised eyebrows at Melbourne Park over Channel 9’s handling of the miracle rise of Luke Saville and Max Purcell to the doubles final. The Aussie pair’s quarter-final and semi-final surprisingly didn’t gather a lot of traction on the network’s main channel.