NICK KYRGIOS was slammed as “embarrassing” for “harassing” the 16-year-old son of a tennis legend.
Aussie Kyrgios is never one to shy away from controversy.
And he seemingly had no qualms laying into Cruz Hewitt publicly on social media.
Cruz, son of former Wimbledon champ and world No1 Lleyton, shared a picture on his Instagram posing alongside world No1 Jannik Sinner after the pair hit together in the Rod Laver Arena – the main show court at the Australian Open.
Kyrgios, though, wasted no time in flooding Hewitt Jr’s post with comments.
The outspoken former Wimbledon finalist has repeatedly bashed Sinner publicly after he twice failed a drugs test last year.
Sinner, who dated Kyrgios’ ex-girlfriend and fellow tennis star Anna Kalinskaya, was cleared of blame and has so far escaped a lengthy ban – although the World Anti-Doping Agency have appealed and believe he should be suspended to one to two years.
Kyrgios, 29, labelled Sinner’s anti-doping breach “disgusting” and “ridiculous” and continues to take swipes at the Italian online.
So when he noticed Hewitt’s photo on Instagram, he piled in with comments.
Kyrgios initially wrote: “Love ya Cruz but this is wild,” with a crying emoji.
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He then added: “Cooked post.”
And a third message said: “Thought we were boys,” with nine brokenhearted emojis.
Kyrgios and Hewitt Jr have known each other for years thanks to Cruz’s dad Lleyton’s role as Australian Davis Cup and ATP Cup captain since 2016.
So although the pair likely know each other well personally, plenty of fans were taken aback by his derogatory replies.
In fact, there were more than 1,700 replies to his three comments.
One said: “You’re such a flog mate. Get over yourself. Will say anything for the slightest bit of attention.”
Another wrote: “Lol imagine harassing kid just because he practised with Sinner. Get help dude cuz you’re obsessed.”
A third added: “He’s 16 and you are 29, man… this is pathetic.”
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These rising stars are all making their way in tennis.
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A fourth commented: “Love you as a player. But as a person, this is disgusting Nick. You’re ruining yourself.”
A fifth typed: “Come on, don’t you have better things to do than harass kids? It’s high time you stopped that, you should be ashamed of yourself.”
A sixth fumed: “Bullying a kid classy as always.”
A seventh moaned: “Stop it man! You are embarrassing yourself… go away.”
And a final user hit back: “Oh Nicholas Kyrgios, the sad little life that you have.”
Hewitt Jr, born in late 2008, made his Junior Grand Slam debut last year at the 2024 Australian Open – with Sinner winning the senior title to land his maiden Major before adding the US Open in September.
