Wimbledon 2019 | Nick Kyrgios swipes back at Aussie tennis legend Pat Cash

Nick Kyrgios has hit back at Aussie tennis great Pat Cash after he said something nice about Rafael Nadal’s Wimbledon performance.

Nick Kyrgios appeared to take a swipe at Pat Cash on Twitter after the Aussie tennis legend praised Rafael Nadal’s conduct during a wild second round clash in London.

Nadal defeated Kyrgios 6-3 3-6 7-6 7-6 on Centre Court in the early hours of Friday morning (AEST) as the pair slugged it out for three hours and four minutes during a spicy Wimbledon grudge match.

The pair have traded barbs this year, Nadal accusing Kyrgios of being disrespectful and the wild child biting back by labelling the Spaniard “super salty”, and the built-up animosity made for an enthralling spectacle on the most iconic stage in tennis.

The standard was of the highest quality and both players were emotionally up for what was arguably the match of the tournament so far. The raw emotion Nadal let out when winning the third set and the defiant finger wave after he wrapped up the match showed how badly he wanted the win, while Kyrgios — often accused of drifting out of matches — was as engaged as ever.

Cash, who won Wimbledon in 1987, took to Twitter to praise Nadal for keeping his cool during the heated clash and acting like a “true gentleman” — sparking a social media rebuttal from Kyrgios in which he replied to the tennis great with the hashtag “potato”.

Nadal waited for

Cash tweeted out a video showing Nadal waiting for Kyrgios after the match to be clapped off the court together, as a BBC commentator said: “How good to see Nadal waiting for him as well. That shows some quality, some real class.”

Well done Pat, one of your better tweets 😂🙏🏽 #potato

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) July 5, 2019

Kyrgios’s tweet appeared drenched with sarcasm — similar to parts of his post-match press conference after the loss to Nadal — and the “potato” insult was a repeat of a line he dished out earlier in the week to a Twitter user who accused him of tanking the fourth set 6-0 in his five set, round one win over Jordan Thompson.

“Kyrgios tanked that 4th set. Gave up when he was down a break. P*** weak,” the user wrote before Kyrgios hit back by tweeting: “Yeah winning a match at Wimbledon after 3 hours and 30 mins is definitely the definition of p*** weak you potato.”

While Cash praised Nadal for letting his “racquet do the talking”, Kyrgios was more than happy to use more conventional methods.

He blew up about Nadal taking too long between points and slammed the umpire for doing nothing to speed up play.

“What is this stuff bro? Play the game, play the game. It’s stupid,” Kyrgios said as Nadal took a toilet break at the end of the first set. “You guys (umpires) are the worst of the lot, you’re so biased. Just kiss up to him, it’s a joke.

“He takes 40 seconds between every serve, is that within reason? No. So don’t tell me to play within reason. He doesn’t play within reason.

“It’s not fair. This is part of the sport is it? What’s happening now is part of the sport?

“I’m serving next and he happens to take a toilet break now. Why?

“What’s going on bro? What’s going on? It’s bulls***.”

Nick Kyrgios had another big serve for the umpires.

At 4-3 in the third Kyrgios relentlessly trolled chair umpire Damien Dumusois when the official scolded the 24-year-old for telling him what to do, saying he would decide what action to take against Nadal, if any. Kyrgios repeatedly taunted Dumusois about being on a “power trip”, earning himself a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.

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Kyrgios wasn’t going to apologise for his attitude towards the man in charge, saying afterwards he thought the officiating was “horrendous”.

“The umpire today was horrendous. I mean, he was terrible,” Kyrgios said.

“I’m serving, I’m like starting my routine. Rafa said, ‘Stop’. The rule is like play to the speed of the server. Why do I have to wait for him to get into his rhythm every time? I got angry at the ref. He’s like, ‘No, I’ll tell him what I want to tell him’.

“I was like, ‘Oh, a little bit of a power trip there’. He obviously feels pretty important sitting up in the chair.

“He was just terrible. I thought the way he handled the match was just bad.”