Kiwi doubles player Michael Venus has teed off on Nick Kyrgios in an extraordinary spray following their heated quarter-final clash yesterday.
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis progressed to the Australian Open semi-finals with a tense and at times fiery encounter against Venus and his German partner Tim Putz.
The No.6 seeds were clearly disappointed with the result, but it was the manner of the Aussies’ conduct during the match that riled Venus more.
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“It felt like a circus out there, and not really a tennis match,” Venus told New Zealand publication 1News.
“Between serves, [they were] geeing the crowd up and getting them to cheer at times like that. I don’t think that’s really on.
“You know if it’s on the other foot, old mate [Kyrgios] would have flipped his lid.”
“He already did get mad there by himself. It’s amazing, he can smash a ball out that hits a kid and just ’cause he gives them a racquet afterwards people can say he’s such a good guy.”
Venus added that he’d found it tough to remain composed on the court and that it had affected his performance.
He then blasted Kyrgios for his lack of maturity and said the former world No.13 would never fulfil his potential.
“On the maturity side, you see why he’s never fulfilled his potential and probably never will,” he said.
“His maturity level, it’s probably being generous to about a 10-year-old, it’s at about that level.
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“The amount of messages I got from people, an extreme amount, way, way more than I’ve ever had but then a lot of messages from people saying how embarrassed they were with the crowd’s behaviour and they’re sorry, it shouldn’t have been like that.
“They’ll always be his supporters and he’ll spin it in a way that helps him but at the end of the day he’s an absolute knob.”
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