Nick Kyrgios has engaged in a war of words with another tennis professional.
The 28-year-old came out to defend his doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis and slammed an Australian tennis legend Todd Woodbridge in the process.
Kyrgios recently got eliminated from the Australian Open by British player Jacob Fearnley in round one.
It was the his long anticipated comeback after not playing on the ATP tour since his defeat to Yibing Wu in June 2023.
While Kyrgios questioned whether he will ever play singles at the Australian Open again, the 28-year-old will be in action in Melbourne when he teams up with Thanasi Kokkinakis in the men’s doubles.
His partner, Kokkinakis has come under fire recently from Woodbridge who claimed the World No.65 has not lived up to his potential.
Woodbridge is widely considered as one of the best doubles players of all-time, picking up 16 Grand Slam titles in the men’s doubles and further six in the mixed doubles.
The three-time Australian Open champion believes Kokkinkias’s decision to play exhibitions is hurting his career and is why has suffered injuries in recent months.
Kokkinakis was forced to withdraw from his hometown tournament, the Adelaide International last week after a shoulder injury.
“Scheduling is a really interesting thing with him,” Woodbridge told Wide World of Sports‘ The Morning Serve.
“At the back end of the year he’s played Challengers and then he went and played exhibition matches that he didn’t need to do.
“Yes, the money’s great and we all love putting that in our pocket and that’s exactly what he did, but that schedule hurts to start the year.”
Credit: @TennisAustralia via XTodd Woodbridge (right) picked up nine Wimbledon doubles titles[/caption]
Both Kokkinakis and Kyrgios responded to the 22-Grand Slam champion and slammed the 53-year-old in brutal fashion.
“That’s why he is trying to host every game show under the sun,” Kokkinankis said in reference to Woodbridge hosting popular games shows like Tipping Point Australia.
“We’re trying to make a living as much as he is.”
Kyrgios then tore into Woodbridge on Instagram, dimsissing the 53-year-old as an ‘old head’ who was never offered the same opportunity as current players.
“Facts. We out here earning 6-7 figures at these [exhibition matches] – we have every right to go and get that money,” Kyrgios posted.
“The game is much more physical now than when some of these older heads played. ‘Don’t be jealous we are earning bread.
Credit: @k1ngkyrg10s via InstagramKyrgios hits out at Woodbridge on Instagram[/caption]
“They would have done the same thing … thing is they were not getting six figures to show up for a couple days,” Kyrgios said.
Kokkinakis and Kyrgios will team up on January 16th when they take on Aleksandar Vukic/James Duckworth in the first-round men’s doubles match up.