The words Nick Kyrgios directed at Stan Wawrinka during their 2015 Canadian Open match remains one of his most controversial moments, but the Australian made no apologies for it in a recent podcast appearance.
Kyrgios will return to professional tennis at the 2025 Australian Open. Aside from a failed comeback attempt at the 2023 Stuttgart Open, he has not competed on the ATP Tour in over two years.
By contrast, 39-year-old Wawrinka has kept himself fit throughout 2024 and had a great recent run to the semifinal of the Stockholm Open. He also has no plans to retire next year.
While Wawrinka competed on the court during the last two years, Kyrgios attempted to keep himself occupied with commentary rules and offering his thoughts on various subjects on social media.
The Australian was severely criticized during the US Open for making an unsavory comment about Jannik Sinner's relationship with Anna Kalinskaya, who Kyrgios used to date before they parted ways.
Former player and highly respected analyst Andrea Petkovic slammed Kyrgios for "self-sabotaging with misogynist nonsense," saying it distracted from his otherwise interesting commentary.
Kyrgios did not apologize for that incident, and he was also in no mood to do so when discussing what happened when he played Wawrinka in the round of 32 at the 2015 Canadian Open.
Wawrinka was dating WTA player Donna Vekic, who became an Olympic silver medalist this year, at that time. That led to Kyrgios making a remark that many found utterly outrageous at the time.
Kyrgios mentioned that Thanasi Kokkinakis, with whom he won the 2022 Australian Open men's doubles title, allegedly had relations with Vekic. His exact words were, "Kokkinakis b***ed your girlfriend. Sorry to tell you that, mate."
Both Wawrinka and Kokkinakis were furious by Kyrgios' actions despite Kokkinakis being his close friend. The 29-year-old apologized at the time and received a $10,000 fine.
However, it seems the years since have made Kyrgios feel less guilty about the incident. Speaking on the Louis Theroux podcast, the former Wimbledon runner-up said trash talk was necessary in sport and accused Wawrinka of trying to hit him on the head during the match.
"Just good old fashioned trashtalk. That's very good and very necessary in sport. But I won the match. There's a whole story as to why it came out, but I'm not going to babble on about it."
"We were just going back and forth, back and forth, and it just... he (Wawrinka) wasn't really talking s**t but he was trying to hit me in the head with a tennis ball and I was like, "What's this guy's problem?","
Many would argue that there is a difference between engaging fans with trash talk about an opponent's abilities on the court and crassly bringing up someone's relationship during a match.
However, others love that Kyrgios brings something different to the sport by often stirring the port. It remains to be seen whether the Australian will engage in similar antics when he returns to tennis next year.
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