© Getty Images Sport – Clive Brunskill
Nick Kyrgios suggests what happened during the Gael Monfils and Felix Auger-Aliassime Laver Cup match is exactly what tennis needs. On the opening day of the Laver Cup on Friday, Team Europe’s Auger-Aliassime got extremely annoyed with Monfils of Team Europe because he felt the Frenchman wasn’t taking the event and the match seriously.
“And this is the beauty of it!!! You see the contrast in players, personality and game styles….. I’ve been around FAA he is one of the most professional players ever, I remember him taking notes on the sideline one year, then you have La monf…..
entertainer… epic. LETS GO!!!!!” Kyrgios wrote on X.
And this is the beauty of it!!! You see the contrast in players, personality and game styles….. I’ve been around FAA he is one of the most professional players ever, I remember him taking notes on the sideline one year, then you have La monf…..
entertainer… epic. LETS GO!!!!! https://t.co/8CnYr8mH7I — Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) September 23, 2023
Kyrgios liked what he saw in the Monfils and Auger-Aliassime match
At one moment, Auger-Aliassime could have been heard telling Monfils, “I can play games too.” Then during a changeover, Monfils was heard telling his teammates: “I have a kid…
If I don’t want to play a tournament, I don’t play a tournament.They called me and said ‘you can be free’ For me, I’m here to have fun.” After Auger-Aliassime beat Monfils 6-4 6-3, he addressed the incident and highlighted that it was just something that happened in a moment and not anything personal.
“Yeah, look, it’s competition. Things got a little bit, yeah, heated in the moment, a bit of tension. I was just kind of talking to the referees, talking to him about what rules he was applying, I guess, between the rules we’re used to in tournaments or different rules.
Because I came in thinking, yeah, I have played this tournament and I think everybody involved, not just myself, we all believed that Laver Cup is a tournament that I think has the potential to be taken very seriously, not just now but also in the future, so we’re taking this seriously.
Yeah, things got a bit heated for a couple of games, but I’m happy that we were able to finish the match. Gael is somebody I appreciate, so there is no, I think, tension outside of what just happened in the few games there.” Auger-Aliassime said of his tense moment with Monfils.
