Tennis Prose




Jul/21

1

Wimbledon Showdown: Kyrgios vs Felix

A couple of years ago the normally mild-mannered Felix Auger-Aliassime fired some verbal shots at Nick Kyrgios after their hard fought, drama filled three set battle at Queens Club 2019. Kyrgios was fined $25,000 for his behavior during the match.

‘I think he’s a good tennis player, but I could never be friends or close to a person like that,’ Felix said in an interview with Tennis Life Media.

‘Beyond that, if I wasn’t a tennis player – for example, if we knew each other at school or whatever – he’s not someone I would be friends with or hang out with. So you have to look at two things. There’s the tennis player, and there’s the person. I don’t really feel like associating with a person like that.’

Felix won the match 6-7 7-6 7-5, a contest which featured high-quality tennis and some Kyrgios outbursts at the chair umpire which earned the mouthy Australian $25,000 in fines for his misconduct.

Kyrgios and Felix are now set to meet in the third round at Wimbledon.

Today after his second round win Auger-Aliassime spoke about Kyrgios with respect and made no mention of his previous pointed remarks.

β€œ[Kyrgios] is an amazing player. We played in Queen’s two years ago, almost tie-breaks every set,” Auger-Aliassime said. β€œHe has everything that a player needs to play well, especially on grass. He serves amazingly. It’s going to be a tough match for me. Nick is a great player, a great entertainer. I think he’s good for tennis. He seems focused and playing well the last few matches.”

Most likely Felix and Kyrgios have worked out their differences and will play their match devoid of any grudge or animosity.

But one never knows with the unpredictable and sensitive Kyrgios, if he still remembers and resents those verbal jabs … he may have an urge to settle the score and make the 20 year old suffer the consequences.

As they say sometimes in pro boxing, “…his mouth wrote a check that his ass gonna have to pay.”

Kyrgios vs. Felix will be a very interesting match-up whether they play it straight and clean or if it gets down and dirty.

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2 comments

  • Bill McGill · July 2, 2021 at 10:07 am

    I’ll bet Kokkinakis occasionally questions why he’s friends with Kyrgios. Still, though, he’s undoubtedly the most watchable thing on the tour.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 2, 2021 at 1:48 pm

    Bill, Kyrgios is well liked by a range of players, Sock, Murray, Kokkinakis, Tiafoe, Fritz, Kozlov, the Aussies, so he must be a good friend and fun guy to be around.

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