NICK KYRGIOS was accused of having “a very evil side” and being a “bully” by opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas after one of the feistiest clashes in recent SW19 history.
The Australian dumped out No4 seed Tsitsipas 6-7 6-4 6-3 7-6 – but the story of the match came in the antics in between the points.
Kyrgios dropped several f-bombs, requested Tsitsipas to be disqualified for smashing a ball into the crowd, was warned and called for umpire Damien Dumusois to be replaced.
Tsitsipas received two code violations and was given a points penalty for a wild shot into the stands.
The Greek hit out at “the circus” Kyrgios so often brings to the court and urged his fellow pros to band together and do something to stop the gobby Aussie’s shenanigans in future.
Tsitsipas, 23, blasted: “It’s constant bullying, that’s what he does. He bullies the opponents. He was probably a bully at school himself.
READ MORE IN SPORT
FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS
“I don’t like bullies. I don’t like people that put other people down.
“He has some good traits in his character, as well. But when he also has a very evil side to him, which if it’s exposed, it can really do a lot of harm and bad to the people around him.”
The Athenian added: “There is no other player that does this.
“There is no other player that is so upset and frustrated all the time with something. It triggers it so easy and so fast.
“I really hope all us players can come up with something and make this a cleaner version of our sport, have this kind of behaviour not accepted, not allowed, not tolerated, and move on better.”
Kyrgios totally rejected Tsitsipas’ version of events, labelling the 6ft4ins star as “soft”.
He stood by his on-court demand to have his opponent receive a default when he carelessly walloped a ball into the crowd at the end of the second set, narrowly missing a fan.
Tsitsipas later apologised for the incident.
But he confessed that when he had a point deducted in the third set for firing a return into the crowd, he had actually been trying to hit Kyrgios to make him “stop”.
Unseeded Kyrgios, 27, said: “I’m not sure how I bullied him.
“He was the one hitting balls at me, he was the one who hit a spectator, he was the one who smacked it out the stadium.
“I didn’t do anything. Apart from me going back and forth with the umpire a bit, I did nothing towards Stefanos today that was disrespectful.”
Meanwhile, Rafa Nadal has apologised to Lorenzo Sonego after abruptly stopping the match and calling the Italian over to the net to complain.
It is believed the Spaniard, 36, took great exception to the No.27 seed’s grunting in the closing points of the third-round tie.
At 4-4 in the third set, Nadal went over to the Turin star to make his feelings known and the pair also exchanged words at the end.
Nadal, who progressed 6-1 6-2 6-4, said: “I have to say that I was wrong.
“I should not call him on the net. So I apologise for that. My mistake.
“It is something that I spoke with him in the locker room about and it stays there. Only thing I can say is I saw him personally. I apologised for that.
“My intention was never to bother him at all. Just to tell one thing that was bothering me that I think he was doing in that moment, but that’s it.
“I think there is some codes between players. Yeah, we had some issues there. But that’s it.”
