"Was so up Novak Djokovic's a** for the past two weeks": Andrea Petkovic claims Nick Kyrgios back-tracked amid criticism to pick Tsitsipas as Australian Open winner

Andrea Petkovic criticized Nick Kyrgios for choosing Stefanos Tsitsipas over Novak Djokovic to win the 2024 Australian Open. The former German tennis player discussed Tsitsipas's performance in the third round on Rennae Stubbs' podcast, evaluating the Greek player's progress.

Although Tsitsipas didn't enter the tournament as one of the main favorites, the 7th seed has quietly reached the fourth round with solid performances. In his first two matches against Zizou Bergs and Jordan Thompson, Tsitsipas had to come back from a set down. Still, in the third round, he elevated his game and dominated the young French player Luca van Assche 6-3, 6-0, 6-4.

For Petkovic, Tsitsipas's level against the 19-year-old was a good test passed by the former Aussie Open finalist. Stubbs commented, "Stef Tsitsipas looked really good against Van Assche. I mean, Van Assche is a good young player, but he just got out, so it’s good signs for Tsitsipas because he’s been struggling through the tournament." Petkovic added, "Especially after Kyrgios named him the tournament favorite."

Kyrgios, who has been part of Eurosport's broadcasts as an expert commentator during the tournament, has expressed his support for Djokovic several times throughout the competition. Petkovic suggested, "I feel like he was so up Novak’s a** for the past two weeks that he has gotten sh*t about it and he was like, ‘Okay, I’ve to pick somebody else just so people think that I’m not a Novak fanboy only’," and humorously added, "Or 'I've to become Novak’s manager.'"

The 7th seed is set to face Taylor Fritz in the fourth round, and if he wins, a quarter-final clash with Novak Djokovic is likely, provided Djokovic overcomes the challenge of the 20th seed Adrian Mannarino. Petkovic shared her opinion that ‘Nole’ is still far from his best level but emphasized that it's not too crucial in the early rounds.

“Sometimes I wonder if he honestly times his preparation to peak in the second week of Grand Slams. You know, everyone else normally times their peak performance for Slams in general,” Petkovic claimed.

"But with him, it sometimes feels, especially at the Australian Open, he’s the best player in the world, he played Davis Cup so he probably needed some rest, he started training later so maybe he just started tennis a little bit later and just when it matters, he will start to peak. And he’s so much better that it doesn’t even matter if he’s at a 100 percent or not in the first week of the Australian Open," the German former tennis player concluded.