Emma Raducanu has raised eyebrows by appearing to show support for Nick Kyrgios after the Australian won through to the semi-finals at Wimbledon.
The controversial star took to Court 1 on Wednesday to play Croatia's Cristian Garin, and was at his skilful best to overcome the Croatian 6-4 6-3 7-6. It means a last four berth at a Grand Slam for Kyrgios, 27, for the first time in his career.
And the Canberra man may yet sail through to the final without even having to step on Centre Court on Friday. His opponent, second seed Rafael Nadal, struggled with an abdominal injury during his win over Taylor Fritz, and afterwards the Spaniard refused to confirm if he'll be fit enough to continue at SW19.
Whilst the form of Kyrgios has been undoubtedly formidable, as always, is on-court behaviour has divided opinion at Wimbledon. He received fines for his conduct following his first round win over Paul Jubb and fiery third-round match with Stefanos Tsitsipas, and also received criticism for intentionally breaking the tournament dress-code amid his last-16 win over Brandon Nakashima.
But those incidents were compounded on Tuesday when it was confirmed he had been charged by Australian authorities with common assault, and will appear in court back home in August. The charge relates to his former partner, Chiara Passari.
Despite this Raducanu, 19, took to Twitter following his clash with Garin on Wednesday and simply wrote 'NK' with a magician's wand emoji. Whilst the post clearly applied to his tennis form, it left many of her 656,700 followers condemning her showing support.
"Really Emma?" asked @Goatucanu, while @EricWL17 added: "There's still time to delete this." @itsjustus_18 sarcastically asked: "Who hacked this account?"
@lily11_2022 went a step further, posting: "Been a fan of yours Emma but this is really poor judgment. Good luck to your game but with this, I’m not so sure where your values lie. Character counts, on court and in real life. Hope you understand your influence and use it wisely."
Not everyone opposed her tweet though, pointing out that despite being charged, Kyrgios is yet to be tried in court: "Innocent until proven guilt my friend," wrote @FTBL_luke__.
@Mdemonkey92 meanwhile, argued the British star, who herself went out in the second round, was entitles to express her views: "That's why I like you, you have your own opinion and don't mind with all media and internet screamers."
Following news of the allegations, barrister Jason Moffett, who is representing Kyrgios, told The Canberra Times. "It's in the context of a domestic relationship.
"The nature of the allegation is serious, and Mr Kyrgios takes the allegation very seriously. Given the matter is before the court he doesn't have a comment at this stage, but in the fullness of time we'll issue a media release."
