Aussie tennis star, Nick Kyrgios, has labelled world number one, Novak Djokovic, “a strange cat” during an Australian Open press conference.
Kyrgios claimed that Djokovic was a “heck of a tennis player” but criticised his decision to party “with his shirt off” during a global pandemic.
“I don’t know if I can take any slack for that. That’s as bad as it gets for me,”
The world number one tested positive to the virus last June after partying with his physical trainer and other players during the Adria Tour exhibition tournament in the Balkan regions.
At the time, Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios responded to footage of Djokovic partying, tweeting: “Don’t @ me for anything I’ve done that has been ‘irresponsible’ or classified as ‘stupidity’ - this takes the cake.”
The comments come just days after Djokovic claimed “off the court”, he doesn’t have much “respect” for the Aussie star.
Earlier this month, Kyrgios slammed tennis stars and their partners for complaining about hotel quarantine, describing Djokovic as a “tool” and calling for Bernard Tomic’s girlfriend to have some “perspective”.
Djokovic had previously made six requests for hotel quarantine that included “decent food” and reducing the days of isolation.
Once painted as the bad boy of tennis, it appears Kyrgios has reformed his image, becoming the sport’s voice of reason.
New fans of the Aussie player are sharing the moment their perceptions of Kyrgios changed on Twitter.
ABC Journalist, Matthew Bevan, said he realised he was “wrong about Kyrgios” after reading a story about him stopping on the street to help push a woman’s broken car home.
“I reckon Nick Kyrgios is a genuinely good guy whose worst, most exhausted and emotional moments just happen to be when he has 80 TV cameras pointed at him being broadcast live to millions of people around the world,” added food columnist Adam Liaw.
Others claimed they’ve been “team Kyrgios” from the start.
“My version of an upgrade is going from a Djokovic fan to a Kyrgios fan,” one person tweeted.
Despite this, Kyrgios remained a controversial figure in the first minutes of the Australian Open.
The star was filmed ordering his team member’s girlfriend out of his players' box during a match against Portuguese star, Federico Ferreira Silva.
“I'm a nut case when I'm on court," he later admitted to reporters when asked about the incident.
"It was just heat-of-the-battle type stuff...You just need to verbalise it and lash out on someone sometimes. Then I calm down and started playing some decent tennis."
Krygios confessed tennis has “stressed him out” but he’s matured from the sport.
“I feel like an old soul,” he said.
“At the end of the day, I know it's just a tennis match. Look at me. I'm a wise man now.”
