Following their clash at the Australian Open which almost led to a physical altercation, world doubles No.1 Mate Pavic has reignited his feud with Nick Kyrgios, while strangely complimenting the grand slam champion at the same time.
Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis stunned the top-ranked Pavic and Nikola Mektic 7-6, 6-3 in the second round as part of a shock win streak which ultimately led to the pair taking out the Australian Open.
The crowd’s behaviour came into sharp focus during the match, with Pavic and Mektic accusing the crowd of failing to “show respect”.
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And it appears the whole episode has stayed with Pavic, labelling Kyrgios a “clown” and an “idiot”, while also highlighting the Australian’s role in attracting new fans to the doubles game.
“He showed that by playing doubles you can fill a stadium,” Pavic said on Sport Klub’s Wish & Go podcast.
“The fans were not fair. If is difficult to play in these conditions against Kokkinakis and especially Kyrgios, who is — to be politically correct, a clown and an idiot.
“He gets away with a lot and he doesn’t respect his opponents. On the one hand we have a player like Monfils, who is a showman, who respects his opponents and is interesting for the fans; and (then there is) Kyrgios (who) is full of disrespect and an ordinary clown.
“But obviously he has his fans who come to watch him.”
After Kyrgios and Kokkinakis beat Mektic and Pavic, Kyrgios tweeted: “Just letting you know after yesterday’s chop fest in doubles my opponents coach and trainer proceeded to threaten to fight in the players’ gym. Tennis is a soft soft sport, all because I moved and hit them with a tennis ball.”
Kokkinakis responded to the tweet: “That was crazy!! Mans thought it was UFC.” After taking home the doubles title, Kyrgios said things were going to get out of hand.
“I was ready to go, Thanasi calmed me down. He was threatening to hit me, it was pretty full on,” he told KIIS FM.
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