Nick Kyrgios slammed for ‘vile’ Wimbledon insult that went too far

Nick Kyrgios proclaimed his innocence after Wimbledon’s most spiteful match but he’s come under fire for going too far with one word.

Nick Kyrgios has come under fire for a “vile” insult aimed at Stefanos Tsitsipas after their Wimbledon grudge match on Sunday morning (AEST).

Kyrgios advanced to the fourth round with a four-sets win but all the talk was about the aggro between both players on and off the court.

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The Aussie star demanded Tsitsipas be defaulted for hitting a ball into the crowd while the world No. 5 repeatedly tried to hit Kyrgios in the body from close range as he complained to the umpire about his behaviour.

Tsitsipas called his rival a “bully” with an “evil side” to him while Kyrgios rejected the accusations and said the Greek star was “soft”.

“To come in here and say I bullied him and stuff, that’s just soft. We’re not cut from the same cloth,” Kyrgios said.

“If you’re affected by that today then that’s what’s holding him back. Because someone can just do that and that’s gonna throw him off his game like that, I just think it’s soft.”

Nick Kyrgios said he did nothing wrong on Sunday. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP)

The use of the word “soft” is what really angered some tennis pundits as Kyrgios — despite claiming he did nothing wrong on Sunday — still attracted criticism for his conduct.

Speaking on The Tennis Podcast, co-host and tennis broadcaster Catherine Whitaker said Kyrgios was embodying “toxic masculinity” with his post-match insult.

“He said it (“soft”) repeatedly and that was a portion of the press conference that I really felt icky about,” Whitaker said.

“I hate — I mean the whole match and the whole tone of the aggro, particularly from Kyrgios’ side, had a real edge of toxic masculinity for me and that comment about Tsitsipas being ‘soft’ has a cutting edge of toxic masculinity about it to me.

“I found that pretty vile.”

The Tennis Podcast co-host, BBC commentator David Law, was disappointed to hear that insult, particularly as Kyrgios has been open about his own mental health struggles.

“I found it quite sad because he is somebody I think who has gone through tough times, Nick Kyrgios, and has suffered himself in all sorts of situations and doesn’t appear to have any empathy for anybody else though who might be suffering, maybe as a result of his own behaviour,” Law said.

“What about actually thinking about the consequences of what you’re doing wrong rather than just judging him (Tsitsipas) like that. I found it really quite sad.”

Speaking on ABC’s Offsiders, sports writer Georgina Robinson said although she would watch Kyrgios’ best tennis every day of the week, “there’s a toxic element to him, for sure”.

Tsitsipas couldn’t stand Kyrgios’ behaviour. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Kyrgios denied he was a “bully” and while many would support him on that front when looking only at the Tsitsipas match, his treatment of umpires and officials over the years means there are also plenty in the tennis world who agree with the fourth seed’s assessment.

“I’ve watched Nick Kyrgios a lot over the years and watched the way he’s spoken to umpires and I regard it as bullying,” Law told The Tennis Podcast.

“Whether he intends it or not is another matter. But that’s how it comes across to me and I applaud Stefanos Tsitsipas for calling him out.

“We can’t hear how awful he’s being to an umpire sometimes and I think if a crowd could hear it, they would boo. They would not accept that. I really believe that.

“If they knew what was going on ... things I’ve heard in the past, I reckon any decent-minded person in the crowd is thinking, ‘That’s not on’.”

Whitaker added: “Whether he bullies opponents is less clear to me but he certainly bullies umpires and officials and increasingly so and it’s horrible, it’s absolutely horrible. It makes me really uncomfortable.”