Kyrgios, Verdasco get into Twitter spat at Miami Open

Verdasco, the 31st seed, became annoyed during his 3-6 6-4 7-6(4) win over Thanasi Kokkinakis and even argued with the Australian qualifier in the deciding set when he accused his opponent's father of talking during his serves.

Kyrgios, Verdasco get into Twitter spat at Miami Open

(Reuters)





Kyrgios, who has a reputation on the tennis circuit for being outspoken, took to Twitter to weigh in on the happenings at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida.

"I hope TK wins this match, Verdasco is the saltiest dude, must be frustrated at his past success against Aussies," Kyrgios wrote in a Twitter post he has since deleted.

World number 39 Verdasco does indeed have a poor record against Australian players, his most recent loss to a competitor from Down Under coming at the hands of teenager Alex de Minaur in the first round at the Sydney International in January.

Verdasco, who could face Krygios in the Miami semi-finals, felt the need to respond after his nearly three-hour match and wrote, "when you have the courage to put a tweet insulting another player you need to have the same to don’t delete it."

Kyrgios, who enjoyed a speedy 6-3 6-3 win on Monday to reach the fourth round, was not about to let the spat end there and fired off one final message:

"I would honestly have told it to Fernando's face, the reason I deleted my previous tweet was because I didn't want to cause unwanted attention, but I'm just gonna leave this here. Thanks for blocking me, I'm sure that took a lot of courage x."

Verdasco will be in back in action on Tuesday when he faces fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, the 16th seed. Kyrgios will battle German fourth seed Alexander Zverev.





(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Nick Mulvenney)


Share
2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters

Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world