Nick Kyrgios wasn't impressed with the criticism directed at Aryna Sabalenka after the Belarusian tennis star threw a racket in Wuhan and nearly hit a cameraman.
After blowing a 5-2 third-set lead against Jessica Pegula in the semifinal and allowing the American to go 6-5 up in their Wuhan semifinal, Sabalenka got extremely frustrated and hurled her racket. After the racket bounced off the chair, it nearly hit a nearby cameraman. The top-ranked WTA player proceeded to instantly apologize.
In tennis, rules are clear regarding hitting somebody with a ball or racket in frustration - instant default. With that being said, had Sabalenka's racket hit the cameraman, she would have been disqualified from the match. While the four-time Grand Slam champion lost the match, she still caught criticism and backlash for her actions on Saturday.
Kyrgios defends Sabalenka from criticism
Reacting to the news, tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg wrote: "I am late to this moment, but both tours need to meaningfully crack down on players launching projectiles in anger, its a terrible look and genuinely dangerous for people around the courts. Sabalenka was lucky this wasnt much worse, as BvdZ was last week."
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Kyrgios wasn't impressed, bluntly telling Rothenberg: Shut up lol."
Just a couple of days ago, Kyrgios was a guest on UNSCRIPTED by Josh Mansour. There, the 2022 Wimbledon finalist had a strong take on those criticizing racket smashes.
"For instance, the whole like smashing rackets thing and bro, everyone smashes rackets. Like Serena Williams smashes rackets. Novak Djokovic.It's very normal for a tennis player to smash rackets. I just feel like mine has been for some reason flipped on its head," Kyrgios said.
