"You absolute pelican" - Kyrgios and Khachanov meet for the first time since heated exchange

After Nick Kyrgios defeated world number 1, Daniil Medvedev, he's set to take on another Russian, Karen Khachanov.

The two quarterfinal protagonists met twice before and both won one of the meetings. First, Karen Khachanov triumphed in 2019 in Cincinnati before Nick Kyrgios got the revenge in a five-set thriller at the 2020 Australian Open. However, later that year, they had a heated exchange on Twitter and never met on the tennis court since.

It all started when Nick Kyrgios wanted to defend his very good friend, Andy Murray and tweeted: "Just read what Wilander said about Andy Murray.... shut up Mats, no one cares. Muzz, just know that how ever long you stay, we all appreciate and enjoy your tennis and banter. Also I’ve never watched a point of Mats Wilander."

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His Russian colleague from the ATP Tour didn't like it and responded to the Australian, stating: "Nick, come on mate..it’s too much..show some respect." But Kyrgios showed that he stands by what he tweeted previously, continuing: "Nah I’m good dude. Muzz and I respect eachother, and if someone starts talking about one of mine then I’ll come at them. I’m supposed to respect Mats? For what? Hitting a ball over the net? I don’t give my respect for that."

Once again, Khachanov responded: "Bro it’s your call. I really think you are a good lad and I don’t have any problem with you. But once you are sitting at home and writing different comments about players that makes me think who has the real problem.."

And that's when the things got heated as Kyrgios didn't take long to answer: "So you think what the players did during this pandemic was smart? I’d love to have an intellectual conversation with you but I’m not sure it would go further than how hard you could hit a ball. I’ve simply been holding people accountable."

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Khachanov took that personally, stating: "And next time before talking about my intellect read at least a few books , instead or playing video games whole day long." Whole exchange ended with Kyrgios tweeting: "I’ve also been feeding the hungry, helping open up new facilities for kids to get active. But way to do your research you absolute pelican."

However, it seems that both players might have forgotten about the exchange as prior to their meeting, the Russian stated: “Nick said himself that he doesn't recognise himself in a way how professional he is right now,” said Khachanov. "I think Wimbledon showed him, if he does the things like he does now, what he's capable of. Obviously everybody knows that, the way he's serving."

"I think it will be the same for me, focus on serve, keep the serve. In rallies we have the same, equal chances. It will be always the question of how the point starts, with the serve and return.”

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