Nick Kyrgios did not take kindly to a social media user defending Iga Swiatek from him by mentioning the Australian's history of pleading guilty to an assault charge.
Kyrgios will play in just his second tournament in the last two years at the Brisbane International, scheduled for the opening week of the 2025 season. He then plans to compete at the Australian Open.
The 2022 Wimbledon runner-up has kept himself occupied while recovering from severe wrist and ankle injuries by working as a commentator and continuing to post opinions on social media.
Much of Kyrgios' analysis can be thoughtful and interesting. For example, he developed five ideas for improving tennis. Although fans may not agree with all his proposals, they were worthy of debate.
Kyrgios often causes controversy with his other opinions. A notable instance in 2024 is his strong views about Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek testing positive for banned substances this year.
Sinner's case was made public a few days before the US Open. His two positive tests for the banned substance clostebol were from March's Indian Wells Open, where he lost in the semifinals to Carlos Alcaraz.
A private five-month investigation from the International Tennis Integrity Agency cleared him of wrongdoing, but the World Anti-Doping Agency has appealed and wants a ban of between one and two years.
Although various players have been irritated by the handling of Sinner's case, Kyrgios has been the most vocal critic of the Italian since, including spreading theories about how long clostebol can stay in a player's system.
Kyrgios was also unhappy with Swiatek's case. The former WTA No. 1 accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for trimetazidine because a non-prescription medicine was contaminated with the prohibited substance.
The controversial 29-year-old posted "Our sport is cooked" on X (formerly Twitter) to demonstrate his unhappiness with both cases and the negative impacts he feels it has on the sport.
A fellow X user responded harshly to Kyrgios' tweet, writing that "abusers" like him being allowed to play tennis is an issue that fans should be more concerned about than Swiatek's short doping suspension.
"A bigger problem in our sport is that abusers like you are allowed to keep on playing without any punishments at all, so shut the hell up before you say our sport is cooked."
The volatile Kyrgios did not take kindly to that reply. He called the user a "potato," an insult the former Wimbledon finalist regularly uses on social media, and accused them of spreading disinformation.
"Huh? Did you read my case? ….. when a potato like you speaks without facts that’s called spreading misinformation…. Hahahaha be upset."
It is essential to get the facts of Kyrgios' case right. The Australian did plead guilty to shoving his then-girlfriend to the ground during an argument when she tried to stop him from leaving where they were in Canberra.
However, the judge decided not to convict Kyrgios because the offence was at the low end of seriousness for a common assault.
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