Create

"Novak Djokovic, this the kinda person you want to have dinner with?" - Tennis fans react to Nick Kyrgios' latest dig at Canadian Open champion Pablo Carreno Busta

Pablo Carreno Busta and Nick Kyrgios (R)
Pablo Carreno Busta and Nick Kyrgios (R)

Nick Kyrgios took a fresh dig at newly-crowned Canadian Open champion Pablo Carreno Busta after he was reminded of their war of words a couple of years ago. The Aussie reminded everyone of his superior head-to-head record against the Spaniard and it did not go down well with the tennis fan community.

Kyrgios' old comments disregarding Carreno Busta's record on surfaces other than clay became a talking point on social media in light of the Spaniard's Canadian Open title win. The Spaniard now has a Masters 1000 title and an Olympic bronze medal, both on hard courts.

After a post on Twitter recalled Kyrgios' comments and showed how Carreno Busta has been more successful than Kyrgios on hard courts, Kyrgios hit back by showing off his 3-0 win-loss record against the Spaniard.

"Nah I’m good, our head to head is a laugh," read Kyrgios' reply to a tweet by 'We Are Tennis'.
@WeAreTennis Nah I’m good, our head to head is a laugh 😂
📸 Nick Kyrgios, about Pablo Carreño Busta, September 2020.Carreño Busta on hard courts, now M1000 🏆: 1 Slam semis: 2Kyrgios on hard courts, now M1000 🏆: 0 Slam semis: 0Karma 😬 https://t.co/jxRGi6e1cZ

The Wimbledon finalist's sly dig at the Canadian Open champion drew the wrath of tennis fans, many of whom criticized Kyrgios for using his head-to-head record against the Spaniard as a measure of success and for disregarding Carreno Busta's achievement.

"Novak Djokovic, this the kinda person you want to have dinner with?" a fan wrote on Twitter.
@DjokerNole this the kinda person you want to have dinner with? twitter.com/NickKyrgios/st…
he’s such a hypocrite he basically is saying with this tweet if i don’t like you you don’t deserve respect at all. twitter.com/nickkyrgios/st…

Carreno Busta is a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist and both those results came on hard courts at the US Open. He defeated the likes of Marin Cilic, Daniil Medvedev, and Novak Djokovic en route to a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year, which was also played on hard courts.

"Stop talking about Pablo he’s literally never done anything to you??? Why do you continue to belittle him any chance you get??" another fan tweeted.
stop talking about pablo he’s literally never done anything to you??? why do you continue to belittle him any chance you get?? twitter.com/nickkyrgios/st…

Here are a few more reactions to Nick Kyrgios' latest dig at Pablo Carreno Busta:

This man’s psyche is forever stuck in the middle school playground. twitter.com/nickkyrgios/st…
and people say he isn’t a bully. why is he STILL coming at pablo? literally what has pablo ever done to him? twitter.com/nickkyrgios/st…
your head to head means nothing because you're not what decides how good a player is you're not important enough for it twitter.com/NickKyrgios/st…
So if we only look at H2H:Katerina Siniakova > Serena WilliamsKaterina Siniakova > Maria Sharapova 🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈 twitter.com/NickKyrgios/st…
mans literally tweeted about how we need to respect athletes more less than 24 hours ago. have you no shame, sir? twitter.com/nickkyrgios/st… https://t.co/1q2CvKh0k8
well you can take a look at the h2h while pablo celebrates his well-deserved M1000 title twitter.com/NickKyrgios/st…

A look back at the fued between Nick Kyrgios and Pablo Carreno Busta

Nick Kyrgios reacts during a match at the 2022 Citi Open
Nick Kyrgios reacts during a match at the 2022 Citi Open

It all started at the 2020 US Open after Pablo Carreno Busta reached the fourth round. Kyrgios suggested that the Spaniard would be nowhere near the top 50 in men's tennis if not for clay court tournaments. Kyrgios' statement led to a back-and-forth between the two players.

Carreno Busta hit back by suggesting that the Aussie had commented out of 'boredom' as he was not playing any tournaments at the time.

Pablo Carreno Busta on Nick Kyrgios: "He must be pretty bored... when he comes back to tournaments, we will talk about him because he deserves it and in the meantime, well nothing, he will continue to tweet from home"sport.es/es/videos/teni…

The Aussie replied to the same by posting an image of their head-to-head record, which at the time was 2-0 in his favor.

Meanwhile on Instagram https://t.co/qtqv5qnSWL

Since then, Kyrgios and Carreno Busta have faced off just once and Kyrgios won the match in straight sets (2022 Halle Open quarterfinals).

At the 2022 Canadian Open, Kyrgios lost in the quarterfinals to Hubert Hurkacz, whom Carreno Busta beat in the final to clinch the title. The Spaniard also defeated the likes of Matteo Berrettini, Jannik Sinner, and Dan Evans, among others, en route to the title.

Quick Links

Edited by Nihal Taraporvala
Be the first one to comment