Watch Nick Kyrgios Calmly Destroy This Salty British Reporter
Australian tennis champion Nick Kyrgios has shown critics his capacity for total sportsmanship after beating player Brandon Nakashima last night.
Despite Krygios’ remaining humble in victory — graciously thanking his girlfriend and support team in a post-victory press conference — a minor aspect of Krygios’s dress code was living rent-free in one sports journalist’s head.
The issue? Red shoes and a hat.
In an apparent violation of Wimbleton rules, Kyrgios could be seen wearing a red cap and matching Nike Air Jordans as he entered the stadium on Monday night. While Kyrgios would change into an all-white outfit for his match, official tennis rules apparently state that a player’s outfit must be entirely white from the moment they enter the area.
Equipped with the knowledge that this tiny rule had been broken, a journalist at Kyrgios’ post-match interview tried to goad a response out of the tennis player literally SECONDS after speaking about sports media’s tendency to personally vilify him for his actions on the court.
“It’s interesting your comments earlier about the controversy that just seems to materialise around you,” the reporter asked Kyrgios.
“We all know the Wimbledon dress code rules are very strict…Why then would you walk on to centre court with bright red trainers on and do an interview in a red cap?”
“Because I do what I want.” Kyrgios instantly responded
🗣 “Any publicity is good publicity, right?”
Nick Kyrgios was not taking the bait when asked about his attire at #Wimbledon. 🎣❌#BBCTennis pic.twitter.com/3YSeY0zIAr
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 4, 2022
“So you’re above the rules?” the reporter responded, frustration audibly rising.
“No. I’m not above the rules.”
“So what is it? They don’t apply to you?”
“I just like wearing my Jordans.”
Redoubling his efforts, the reporter again tried to stress the significance of Kyrgios’ error.
“But there are rules specifically against that,” the reporter said. “I don’t want to spoil the surprise but the referee’s going to be speaking to you about it.”
“That’s OK. I’ll wear some triple whites tomorrow.” Kyrgios responded with a wink.
As the press moderator tried to move on to another question, the frustrated reporter interrupted again.
“Sorry, but Nick has just moaned about the controversy that surrounds him -”
“I haven’t moaned. I love it.” Kyrgios shot back.
“So you just laugh it off then?”
“Yeah, it’s just more attention for me. What’s that saying? Any publicity is good publicity, right?”
“If you say so.” the reporter replied, with PH levels dangerously exceeding healthy human standards.
“Keep doing you then champion.” Kyrgios said, with the verbal prowess of his ubiquitous underarm serve.
While Kyrgios made headlines for some unsavoury court behaviour last week, media criticism of his actions has always been sensationalized. After spitting in the general direction of a spectator last week — columnist Kate Halfpenny would pen a fiery opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald titled ‘It’s time to kick Nick Kyrgios off the island’.
Retired tennis champion John McEnroe, who was also notorious for abusing referees and breaking racketts throughout his career would also be called out for hypocrisy after claiming Kyrgios’ lacked respect in an earlier Wimbleton game.
McEnroe was defaulted and penalized for some of the most ridiculous things in his time. He said the difference is maybe people saw the effort he put in.
That’s privilege.
— Marlon A. Walker (@marlonawalker) July 2, 2022
Regardless of how many professionals within tennis stubbornly view Kyrgios through the problematic prism of politeness, yesterday the Australian player told reporters that he meets the criticism with a smile.
“It’s so funny. Hilarious. I almost just wake up and read things, and I just laugh,” kyrgios told reporters.
“I sit here now in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon again, and I just know there’s so many people that are so upset.”