Andy Roddick had to keep his cool to become world no.1 during an iconic playing career, but Nick Kyrgios may have pushed him over the edge.
Kyrgios has spent much of the past few months on a tirade against current men’s world no.1 Jannik Sinner over a failed drugs test.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) recently levelled the charges for Sinner, who avoided a ban despite testing positive on two occasions for an anabolic steroid in March.
The ITIA determined that the Italian was not to blame after he argued that it was his physiotherapist contaminating him with clostebol through a cut on his hand.
That reasoning hasn’t satisfied Kyrgios in the slightest, and since a furious rant against dopers before the Australian Open he’s not let his foot off the gas.
He’s since drawn other stars into the debate, including 2004, 2005 and 2009 Wimbledon finalist Roddick, who hosts a successful podcast about tennis.
The retired 42-year-old made a light defence of Sinner, to which Kyrios suggested was an admission of guilt on Roddick’s part.
Angrily responding to the claim, Roddick began on Served with Andy Roddick: “I’ve been avoiding this like the plague.
“He [Kyrgios] went after me about three or four weeks ago and this is probably bordering on defamation but insinuating that because I chose to understand the context and explain it in a way that wasn’t just, ‘you’re doping, let’s kick you out forever’ but maybe there was some nuance and maybe our doping protocols are a little overzealous.
“He insinuated that because I had that opinion I must have done performance enhancing drugs during my career. Open book – [I did] tons of tests. So basically if you test positive you should be banned forever and if you never failed a test you also have done drugs. That p***** me off and I decided to lay off.”
However, now deciding to stand up for himself, Roddick went in hard on Kyrgios.
He would call Kyrgios a ‘hypocrite’ for wanting context for an assault case in his own personal life, which Kyrgios pleaded guilty to, but denying context to anyone involved in doping.
Served with Andy Roddick on YouTubeRoddick went in full force on Kyrgios[/caption]
US Open champion Roddick also cited a recent incident where Cruz Hewitt, the 16-year-old son of two time Grand Slam champion Lleyton, posed with Sinner after a training session, and Kyrigios made fun of him in his Instagram comments.
The American began: “He wants the likes. At this point he’s a tennis influencer, he lives for likes and lives in the comments section.
“He looks cool and he’s one of the most talented players I’ve seen in my life, I do not say that hyperbolicly. He’s on par in terms of racket wizardry with the big three, you can’t take your eyes off this guy when he’s playing well.
“But. The part I take issue with is the hypocrisy with which he picks and chooses when to levy judgement on others while wanting you to digest the context of his comments, the latest being Cruz Hewitt.
“He’s 16-years-old and he gets to hit with a guy that’s no.1 in the world. That’s a big deal. I remember the first time I hit with Andre Agassi and my feet didn’t touch the ground for the week afterwards, it was unbelievable.
“So imagine an almost 30-year-old man going into the comments of a 16-year-old who’s just hit with the best player in the world… Whether he’s guilty or not it’s still a moment – that’s a big moment and to have a guy post in the comments and make it all about himself.
“The lack of awareness you have with bringing trolls and all the worst parts of tennis fandom into a 16-year-old’s comments, it’s ridiculous.
“You’re too good too talented and too capable to be Tweeting syringes and commenting on players’ off court lives for clicks and likes, I hate it.
“I hope he knows that we’re watching him because of his artistry with a tennis racket and not because he inserts himself into dumb, stupid, petulant conversations.”