Nick Kyrgios has always been very supportive of his fellow tennis players, and he showed that once again at the 2022 Canadian Open in Montreal.
While the Australian player has called out some of his colleagues in the past, most notably Novak Djokovic during the pandemic, he generally doesn’t do it without any reason.
In the case of Djokovic, it was because the Serbian did something ill-advised during a global pandemic, which Kyrgios found to be not clever. Other times, he had disagreements with players who have called him out, but generally, he does seem to show support to fellow players.
One of the most notable instances of that was him supporting Djokovic when few wanted to really speak up for him. Djokovic never forgot, and they were able to become friendly in recent months, specifically because of that.
The Australian has now also defended Daniil Medvedev after beating him in Montreal. It was the second-round match at the Canadian Open, with Kyrgios ending up as the winner and ousting the top seed at the event.
While he was leaving the court, Medvedev was heckled by a fan who called him a loser, which prompted the Russian to confront the fan. They talked it out rather passionately, but it was all caught on video, and Kyrgios saw it on social media and immediately reacted by urging fans to show more respect to Medvedev, who is one of the best in the sport and certainly far from a loser.
"Disgusting behaviour. This is the best we have in the sport; fans need to show some respect."
Instances like this have become more and more common in all sports, with most athletes starting to speak up about the disrespect more and more fans are showing. After all, they’re only humans too, and this is far from acceptable behavior.