A third-round match between Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas at Wimbledon was always going to be lively but few on Court One could have predicted even this to reach such explosive levels of unhinged drama and animosity.
As a measure of the hostility by the third set of this fractious affair, Tsitsipas had taken to aiming balls at Kyrgios, rather than attempting to pass his opponent at the net. He was lashing out after Kyrgios led, despite the Australian losing his focus in a tirade at the umpire, demanding for Tsitsipas to be disqualified for whacking a ball into the crowd. Kyrgios, so often the anti-villain of Wimbledon, had become Court One’s anti-hero, and between underarm serves, arguments, swearing and verbal abuse warnings, emerged with an impressive and thrilling 6-7 (2) 6-4 6-3 7-6 (8) victory in over three hours.
