Dawn Fraser's apology means 'nothing', says Kyrgios family

The family of Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios say Dawn Fraser's apology for what they believe were racist comments means nothing.

Australian champion swimmer Dawn Fraser

Swimming legend Dawn Fraser (pic) has apologised "unreservedly" for offending Nick Kyrgios. (AAP) Source: AAP

Nick Kyrgios' family has dismissed Olympian Dawn Fraser's apology for comments she made about the tennis star, which have been described as racist.

"The apology means nothing to me," Kyrgios' brother Christos told Network Ten's The Project.

"Nick's behaviour on court can be construed many different ways from different people, you know, some people might think it's acceptable, some people may not, some people may understand it, some people may not, but that is black and white racist."


Fraser had told a breakfast television show on Tuesday she was disgusted by Kyrgios' behaviour and alleged "tanking" in his fourth-round Wimbledon loss to Richard Gasquet.

Kyrgios was booed on court after he appeared to deliberately fail to return serves during the third game of the second set.

When asked on live TV if it was a case of having too much money and fame at such an early age and lacking humility, the 77-year-old agreed and lumped suspended Davis Cup star Tomic in with Kyrgios.

"They should be setting a better example for the younger generation of this great country of ours," Fraser told the Nine Network.

"If they don't like it, go back to where their fathers or their parents came from.

"We don't need them here in this country if they act like that."

Fraser later apologised for her remarks saying she did not intend to attack Kyrgios' ethnicity.

"I want to unreservedly apologise for any comments that I made this morning which may have caused offence to my fellow Australians including Nick and his family," she said.

Kyrgios is the son of a Greek-born father and Malaysian-born mother but was born in Canberra.

Tomic is German-born with a Croatian father and Bosnian mother, who migrated to the Gold Coast when Tomic was three.

The 20-year-old Kyrgios, who denied he tanked, responded to Fraser's comments on Facebook.

"Throwing a racket, brat. Debating the rules, disrespectful. Frustrated when competing, spoilt. Showing emotion, arrogant," he wrote.

"Blatant racist, Australian legend."



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Source: AAP

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