Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis hit back at 'salty' rivals over locker room spat after Australian Open doubles upset
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Published 23/01/2022 at 15:53 GMT
“They said we were showboating but it was just our energy and they were a bit salty because they lost.” Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios beat world No. 1 pair Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic, prompting Pavic’s trainer to apparently confront the Australian duo after the match. Stream the 2022 Australian Open live and on demand on discovery+.
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Thanasi Kokkinakis has shed more light on an apparent locker room confrontation involving himself, doubles partner Nick Kyrgios and rivals Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic.
The Aussie pair stunned the Croatian duo 7-6 6-3 in an entertaining encounter on Friday but appeared to get under the skin of their opponents in the process.
Following the match, Kyrgios tweeted that Pavic’s coach threatened to fight them behind the scenes.
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis were asked about the incident against following their latest win over Gonzalo Escobar and Ariel Behar.
“It was pretty funny, I’m not going to lie,” laughed Kokkinakis.
“Me and Nick were trying to be professionals after our doubles match.
“It was Pavic’s fitness trainer and he came up and smashed a foam roller against a pole as hard as he can and I thought he was kind of joking, I wasn’t sure if he was going to berate his players.
“Then he came up to Nick and said we’re being disrespectful.
“Nick had hit the player with the ball but that’s natural. Doubles players have unbelievable hands so you have to go at them.”
Pavic and Mektic are the No. 1 ranked men’s doubles team in the world having won nine titles together in 2021 but came unstuck in Melbourne in front a boisterous partisan crowd which Kyrgios and Kokkinakis were all too happy to play up to.
“They said we were showboating but it was just our energy and they were a bit salty because they lost,” said Kokkinakis.
“They’ve won their fair share of tournaments but I thought they’d handle losing a little bit better than that.
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“At the end of the day we’re just trying to entertain the crowd we didn’t mean anything disrespectful.
“It’s all aggressive on his part for sure.”
Kyrgios couldn’t resist a last dig at his opponents and added a cheeky “enjoy your flight home” before the two players burst into laughter.
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