
1. Tennis star loses temper and smacks own father with racquet at the ATP Cup in Brisbane.
Aussie Nick Kyrgios has kept his cool to outlast a hot-tempered Stefanos Tsitsipas and seal victory for Australia in their ATP Cup clash with Greece in Brisbane on Tuesday night.
World No.30 Kyrgios returned from injury to claim a 7-6 (9-7) 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-5) win in more than two-and-a-half hours at Pat Rafter Arena that was marred by an extraordinary meltdown by Tsitsipas.
After dropping the first set, the 21-year-old world No.6 slammed his racquet into the bench, accidentally clipping his father and Greece captain Apostolos Tsitsipas on the forearm.
His unimpressed dad walked away briefly before Tsitsipas’s mother Julia emerged from the crowd to stand behind the bench and give her son a dressing down for his behaviour.
Here’s the moment Stefanos Tsitsipas injured his Dad Apostolos when he smashed his racket!!
(@ATPMedia @primevideosport ????) pic.twitter.com/QDLgJlbrOh
— JC ????. (@Joe__Tennis) January 7, 2020
It appeared to have little effect with Tsitsipas then receiving a point penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct early in the second set when he smashed a ball into his unfortunate bench, this time just missing his dad.
That was enough for his father, who relocated behind the court-side bench for the rest of the match as Tsitsipas’ mum returned to give her son another spray.
“It happened accidentally. I didn’t mean to do it and straight away forgot about it and moved on from there,” Tsitsipas said.
“I wasn’t aiming to do that, so it went out of control, unfortunately.”
All eyes were on Kyrgios to see if he would be on his best behaviour after starting the year with a suspended 16-match ban hanging over his head.
But the former world No.13 looked like a choirboy compared to the hot tempered Tsitsipas on Tuesday night.
Not that Kyrgios was judging his Greek opponent.