Nick Kyrgios’ ex-girlfriend is left baffled by Italian reporter’s question about her relationship status after straight-sets Australian Open win
- World number 52 Ajla Tomljanovic advanced to the second round on Tuesday
- She was asked about her relationship with Matteo Berrettini at press conference
- The Italian reporter hinted Tomljanovic might be engaged to the world number 8
- Kyrgios, 24, and Tomljanovic, 26, had an on-off relationship from 2015 to 2017
Nick Kyrgios’ ex-girlfriend Ajla Tomljanovic was left baffled after an Italian reporter assumed she was engaged to her current partner.
The world number 52 from Australia, who had a turbulent two-year relationship with Kyrgios, sailed into the second round of the Australian Open after taking down 31st seed Anastasija Sevastova in straight sets.
During a post-match press conference on Tuesday night, an Italian journalist hinted to the 26-year-old that she might be engaged to Italian tennis star Matteo Berrettini, who she has been dating since September.
During a post-match press conference, an Italian journalist hinted to Ajla Tomljanovic that she might be engaged to her boyfriend Matteo Berrettini
Nick Kyrgios’ ex-girlfriend Ajla Tomljanovic (left) has been dating Italian world number eight Matteo Berrettini (right) since September 2019
‘This may be the second Slam you’re doing as a fiancé to a [tennis] player,’ the reporter said.
But a baffled Tomljanovic quickly corrected the reporter’s language faux pass.
‘Fiancé…what kind of word is that? I think, ‘fidanzata’ in Italian means girlfriend, but in English it means fiancé and I’m not his fiancé,’ she quipped while laughing.
The reporter responded: ‘Okay, how should I call you…? Girlfriend..?’
Tomljanovic then shot back: ‘I guess… Ajla would be great too.’
The Croatian-born tennis went on to say her new relationship is having a positive impact on her career.
‘It’s a nice setup. [I’m] pretty happy off the court,’ she said.
‘I don’t know if that has anything to do with it, but probably.’
Kyrgios and Tomljanovic begun dating in 2015 and confirmed their relationship a year later after the tennis partners were knocked out of the Australian Open mixed doubles together.
They had a public on-again-off-again relationship until eventually parting ways in 2017.
Kyrgios once told reporters: ‘It’s when I’m with her that I am the happiest.’
When Kyrgios and Tomljanović split, the world number 26 deleted all photos of them together from his Instagram account.
Kyrgios’ Australian Open campaign is also off to a good start, after easing through his first round against Italian world number 53 Lorenzo Sonego 6-2 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-1).
The 24-year-old put on a dominant serving performance and was never broken in the encounter, taking a straight sets victory in two hours and 13 minutes.
‘I was excited to get out here,’ Kyrgios said to tennis legend John McEnroe on court following his win.
‘Obviously it’s been a pretty emotional couple of months for all of us (with the bushfires) so I wanted to come out here and put on a good performance.’
Kyrgios and Tomljanovic have been dating since 2015, despite a publicised breakup last July