Kyrgios won 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7) to reach the fourth round at the All England Club for the first time since 2016, but not without three code violations being issued during the match — one on Kyrgios for arbitrary foul play and two on Tsitsipas for ball abuse, earning a point penalty. After the match, fourth seed Tsitsipas said Kyrgios has “a bad side” and must have been “a bully at school” for the way he behaved throughout the match. “It’s constant bullying; that’s what he does,” Tsitsipas said. “He bullies opponents. He was probably a bully himself at school. I don’t like bullies. I don’t like people who put others down. “He has some good traits in his character as well, but…he also has a very bad side, which if exposed, can really do a lot of harm and harm to the people around him.” 2 Related Kyrgios responded: “For him to come in here and say I’m bullying him, that’s just soft. We’re not cut from the same cloth. I’m facing guys who are real competitors. If he’s affected by that today, then that’s what’s holding him back because someone can just do that and it will throw them off their game like that. I just think it’s soft.” Much of the drama surrounded an incident at the end of the second set when Tsitsipas threw a ball into the stands, narrowly missing a spectator. Kyrgios immediately argued with the referee, saying that Tsitsipas should have gone bankrupt, adding that if he had done so he would have been thrown out. He then asked to see a supervisor but was unhappy with home referee Damien Dumusois’ response to a caution. “What do you say, brother?” Kyrgios asked Dumusois. “Bring out more supervisors. I have not finished. Take them all out. I do not care. … I’m not playing until we get to the bottom of it.” Tsitsipas later apologized for hitting the ball into the corner. “Look, I have to say it was really bad on my part,” he said. “I’ve never done that before, throwing the ball out of bounds like that. I apologized to people. I don’t know what went through my head at that moment. “I think, with all the circus show going on the other side of the net, it started to get very tiring in a way. That’s what happened. I didn’t hit anybody. It hit the wall, thank God. I’m definitely never doing it again. It’s her my responsibility, sure. But there was also something that created this behavior that I’m not used to seeing myself.” Kyrgios’ problems with the chair umpire began in the first set, when he was annoyed by a reverse call by an umpire and wanted the umpire to be removed, which did not happen. More antics came from both players throughout. From underarm serves Kyrgios hit — including one between his legs — to three shots Tsitsipas dropped on purpose. Kyrgios said after the match that he had done nothing wrong. “I don’t know what to say,” Kyrgios said. “I’m not sure how I bullied him. He was the one hitting balls at me. He was the one hitting a spectator. He was the one blowing it off the field. I didn’t do anything. Other than just going back and forth to the umpire for a while , I didn’t do anything to Stefanos today that was disrespectful, I don’t think. I wasn’t punching him in the balls.” The Greek star admitted he tried to hit Kyrgios a few times, but said he believed there should be some sort of rule to prevent players from behaving the way the Australian does at times. “Every point I played today I feel like something is happening on the other side of the net,” Tsitsipas said. “I’m trying not to get distracted by that, because I know it could be on purpose, because it can definitely play out differently. And that’s his way of manipulating the opponent and making you feel distracted, in a way. “There’s no other player that does that. There’s no other player that’s so upset and frustrated all the time with something. He turns it on so easily and so quickly.” The players combined for 118 winners on the No. 1 court in a match that lasted 3 hours 17 minutes and was full of drama throughout. “He’s very different. That’s not a bad thing,” Tsitsipas said of Kyrgios, adding that the Australian star is good for the sport, in a way. “But I don’t think there was a single match I played with him where he behaved like that. There comes a point where you really tire of it, so to speak. “The constant talking. The constant complaining. I mean, I’m going to serve, and there’s a big void that there’s no tennis being played, which is the most important thing on the court. We’re there to play tennis. We’re not there to have conversations and dialogues with other people … especially when you really know that the referee is not going to overturn what he decided, you know.” Kyrgios will play American Brandon Nakashima in the fourth round. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
