The first withdrawal of the year signed Nick Kyrgios. The Australian tennis player was supposed to lead his team in the United Cup, the new competition for mixed teams, but the number one gave up doing so minutes before the start of the press conference for the entire Australian team.
At the same time, the captain is Lleyton Hewitt. “For the whole team it was quite difficult not to know what was going on in the last 24 hours. It was more of a miscommunication. If it was one thing, it’s one thing; but when it’s around the team and other people, imagining their preparation, they want to play their best, not only in this event, but also in the run-up to the Australian Open.
That’s probably the hardest thing,” said the Australian captain, to which Kyrgios immediately responded on Twitter: “So after all this, after all the media writing about how bad I am for the sport, disrespecting to the game, I’m going to be in the number one episode of Netflix…
to grow our fan base, basically trying to get more people interested in tennis.” The controversy, however, does not end here: the Australian number one also commented on another withdrawal: that of Ajla Tomjlanovic, which occurred shortly before his first game in the United Cup.
Also on Twitter, the Australian Open doubles winner compared Hewitt’s reaction to that of Samantha Stosur, another team captain. “Hmm I wonder if Stosur will throw her under the bus like our captain did me… difficult to prepare when you don’t know what’s happening'”, Kyrgios responded on social networks to a tweet by journalist José Morgado, explaining the disadvantages of the withdrawal of the Australian number one just before the United Cup game, specifically the 2- 0 momentary against the United Kingdom.
Kyrgios believes he is an icon
Mercurial Aussie Nick Kyrgios believes he is an icon in the world of tennis given how he has been a big attraction point for audiences across the globe. “I don’t really care to be honest.
Either way, I know I’ve stayed true to myself … I play the game the way I want to play it,” the Aussie said while speaking to AAP. “And whatever people say, my stadiums are always full. A lot of people have gravitated towards my type of tennis, I’ve been a kind of icon in the sport and, obviously, been able to be consistent in 2022. I guess you could say it was a breakthrough year,” he added.
