Nick Kyrgios criticizes focus on Andrey Rublev’s emotions after French Open outburst

Nick Kyrgios criticized the focus on questions posed to Andrey Rublev following his outburst at the French Open. The Australian tennis player, who is no stranger to controversies and on-court tantrums when things don’t go his way, took issue with how a journalist asked Rublev about his “emotions on court.”

Since ending his 2022 season, Kyrgios has played only one match at the Stuttgart Open in June 2023 and has not participated in any other tournaments. However, he remains active off the court with personal projects, including his OnlyFans account, a podcast, and roles as a commentator at various tournaments.

The 25-year-old Russian has frequently displayed poor behavior on the court when matches become challenging. From shouting to breaking rackets, Rublev was even disqualified in early March from the ATP 500 Dubai Open after yelling and insulting a line judge during the third set of the semifinals against Alexander Bublik.

This time, at the French Open, Rublev suffered a surprising third-round defeat to Italian Matteo Arnaldi in straight sets. The 6th seed repeatedly shouted at himself and his team, struck his knee and the ground with his racket, kicked the bench, and argued intensely with the umpire in one of the most uncontrolled displays of his career.

A social media post highlighted Rublev’s comments during the press conference. A journalist asked him about his emotions on the court: “We could see your emotions on court and what it meant to you. Now you have had time to reflect. What are the emotions you’re feeling after a defeat like that?”

“Completely disappointed with myself the way I behaved, the way I performed, and I don’t remember behaving worse at a slam ever. I think it was the first time I ever behaved that bad,” Andrey Rublev responded.

“I don’t know what happened to me, I had a really good result in Madrid,” Rublev said in his press conference. “Now I’m playing well again. What’s more, I feel like I have a good game, I’m improving. The problem is the head, which basically killed me today, and that’s it,” he added.

Kyrgios commented on the Tennis Letter post, expressing his opinion with irony: “Funny how we pick and choose when we ask ‘could see your emotions on court and how much it meant to you’ compared to ‘disgrace’ (disrespect),” the 28-year-old wrote on X.