You’ve got to hand it to Nick Kyrgios – while he might be a colourful firebrand on the tennis court he is always willing to own up to his mistakes off it.
Case in point, the Aussie tennis star has today apologised to the ball boy he nearly hit with a tennis racket in his quarterfinal loss to Rafael Nadal in Indian Wells.
The world No.132 defied his ranking to take it to the Australian Open winner but ultimately fell 7-6 (0) 5-7 6-4. It was a match soaked in drama and theatrics, culminating in Kyrgios smashing his racket into the court at the conclusion.
The racket speared toward the wall of the arena where it left ball boy Tei Park ducking for cover.
Overnight, Kyrgios sheepishly took to Instagram to find out the identity of the ball boy and apologise.
‘I just want to apologise to that ball kid at the end of the match,’ Kyrgios wrote on Instagram.
‘It was a complete accident and was frustrated at the end of the match.
‘My racket took a crazy bounce and was never my intention. If anyone knows who that ball kid is, send me a message and I will send a racket to him. I’m glad he’s OK!’
The messages exchanged between Kyrgios and the ball boy in question in the aftermath of the fiery match between the Aussie and World No.2 Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells.
Social media responded and it wasn’t long until Kyrgios had the ball boy’s name and contact details so he could reach out personally and apologise.
‘Hey bro! Sorry about my racket incident at the end! Complete accident, you all ok from it? I was wondering if I could send you a racket and if you could accept my apology? Are you at the courts tomorrow?’ Kyrgios messaged.
The ball boy was more than happy to accept the peace offering and revealed he was unharmed from the incident.
‘Hi! Thanks for reaching out, I’m completely fine. I would love to get a racket! Of course I accept the apology. I’ll be back at the courts tomorrow.’ he said.
It was a complete change of tune from Kyrgios who had previously fumed when asked about the incident by a reporter in the post-match press conference.
Tei Park was the ball boy that Kyrgios almost hit when he smashed his racket. Today, Kyrgios handed him a new racket and apologised, much to Park’s joy.
‘What would you like me to say about it? Obviously, was that my intention? No. Because I threw a racquet. Did I throw the racquet anywhere near him originally? It landed a metre from my foot and skidded and nearly hit him,’ Kyrgios said at the time.
‘I’m human. Things happen like that. Obviously it was a very misfortunate bounce. I think if I did that a million times over it wouldn’t have gone that way. And what do you want me to say? It was three metres away from the kid.
‘That’s a question you’re going to say after a three-hour battle against Nadal. That’s what you come here with?
‘Just over a month ago, Alexander Zverev was disqualified from the Mexican Open in Acapulco for damaging the umpire’s chair with his racket.
‘He ducked. Duck. He ducked. He ducked. He ducked. Jesus. All right. It was an accident. It was most definitely not like Zverev. I didn’t hit him, thankfully. It wasn’t my intention. So thankfully the ball kid’s okay. Great question, though. Unbelievable stuff. [Clapping]. Congratulations, man,’ Kyrgios said.
Kyrgios let his frustration boil to the surface more than once in the match, smashing rackets, challenging hecklers and launching a spray at the chair umpire – even involving Ben Stiller.
Kyrgios’ opponent Nadal has previously called on the ATP to intervene and punish players for acts like these to avoid major incidents before they occur.
But Nadal said he couldn’t comment on the Kyrgios incident because: ‘I didn’t see what happened in the end.’
‘I think Nick had a great attitude during the whole match in terms of fighting spirit and of course he has his personality, his character. Sometimes he does things that I personally don’t like, but I respect because of different character, different points of view, and a different kind of education,’ Nadal said.
The match was also notable for Kyrgios ongoing battle with heckling fans, even involving Hollywood actor Ben Stiller at one point.
With the win, Nadal extended his winning streak in 2022 to 19 matches. In the semi-final, he will face 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz in a battle between generations.
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