"Who are some of these players haha": Another year, another diss at European Clay Court swing by Kyrgios

Nick Kyrgios mocks the lower-ranked tennis players who played in the ATP Croatia Open Umag.

The Australian tennis player has been away from competition due to injuries over the past year but still keeps an eye on the ATP tour. Kyrgios has only played one match this year at the Stuttgart Open, where he lost in the first round to Chinese player Wu Yibing.

After a disappointing performance and physical issues during that match, which he lost 7-5, 6-3, Kyrgios announced that he would withdraw from the rest of the grass court tournaments.

Although his return was expected at the DC Open, where he is the defending champion, Kyrgios also withdrew, further adding to the uncertainty surrounding his definitive comeback.

Despite his absence from the tour, Kyrgios occasionally comments on current tennis events using his social media platforms. Recently, he posted a tweet in which he mocked the lower-ranked players participating in the Umag Open. Tennis journalist Craig Gabriel commented on Twitter about what had happened recently in Umag.

“Alexei Popyrin into Umag semis with 76 75 win over Dino Prizmic and plays Matteo Arnaldi,” Gabriel wrote.

“Who are some of these players haha,” Kyrgios respond.

Alexei Popyrin has shared the Davis Cup team of Australia with Kyrgios several times, so he is familiar with the 28-year-old athlete. On the other hand, Prizmic received a wild card to the local tournament.

At 17 years old, he recently became the junior champion at Roland Garros and currently holds the world No. 287 ranking. However, after his performance in Umag, he has climbed to the 251st position in the live rankings, which is the best ranking of his career.

As for the Italian player Arnaldi, he recently entered the top 100 rankings after reaching the second round of the French Open and then becoming the champion of the Challenger Heilbronn. With his performance in Umag (reaching the semifinals before losing to Popyrin), Arnaldi will rise to the world No. 63 ranking, which is the highest ranking of his career.

The ATP 250 clay court tournament featured only two players within the top 50, Jiri Lehecka (world No. 33) and Lorenzo Sonego (world No. 42). The majority of the players in the main draw were outside the top 90 of the rankings.

Nevertheless, the tournament saw the participation of three former Grand Slam champions: Dominic Thiem, Marin Cilic, and Stan Wawrinka, who added strength to the competition.