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The Nick Kyrgios detractors were out in force throughout his unprecedented run to the Wimbledon final.
Kyrgios surged into his first ever grand slam final where he eventually fell to Novak Djokovic in four sets.
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The noise around Kyrgios’ on-court antics peaked after a dramatic third-round clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Kyrgios won the dramatic match in four sets after demanding midway through the encounter Tsitsipas be defaulted for hitting a ball into the crowd.
But as the pundits lined up to take shots at the enigmatic 27-year-old, Rafael Nadal’s uncle and former coach, Toni Nadal, stood in the corner of Kyrgios.
Toni — who now coaches Canadian star Felix Auger-Aliassime — acknowledged he has disapproved of Kyrgios’ antics in the past but said Tsitsipas needed to accept responsibility for losing his cool — then losing the match.
However, Toni has since dished out some blunt advice to Kyrgios about his game in the wake of his loss to Djokovic in the final.
“In the decisive moments he was unable to control his anxiety that, again, degenerated into constant rebukes to his team as if they were to blame for the undesired paths the scoreboard was taking for him,” he told El Pais.
“The match lacked great brilliance, mainly because there were too many unplayed points. The lack of perseverance of the Australian, especially in regards to maintaining his aggressiveness, revealed the main problem that, in my opinion, his game possesses.
“He has a bad habit of hitting too many balls in any way, basically without paying attention and in bad position.
“In today’s tennis, due to the speed at which the ball goes, there is no choice but to look for a good position to have good control.
“The great players (Federer, Djokovic, Rafael) measure their steps well, seek a good position and, from there, try to hit a good shot and increase the chances of victory.
“Nick Kyrgios, with his messy way of understanding the game, is handicapped not so much by what he does with the ball, but by the way he wants to do it.
“It is very difficult for him to achieve the continuity that requires scoring points. Tennis is a sport of repetition, rather than the spectacular.”
Kyrgios, who has at times blamed the media for his portrayal as the bad boy of professional tennis, took to Instagram on Tuesday morning and issued a blunt message to critics.
A basketball lover, Kyrgios shared a clip of NBA star Kevin Durant from 2019 in which he says: “I just don’t trust none of y’all.
“Every time I say something it gets twisted up and thrown up and so many different publications tried to tear me down with my words that I say.
“So when I don’t say nothing, it’s a problem.
“I just wanna play ball. I wanna go to the gym and go home.”
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