No fans, no hype? Nick Kyrgios shoots against clay court tournaments
Nick Kyrgios , who has been part-time on the ATP tour since the beginning of the corona pandemic, has expressed a few thoughts on the European clay court tour that is currently underway.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Jul 24, 2021, 09:47 am
The organizers of the ATP tournaments in Gstaad, Umag, Bastad or Kitzbühel will not have liked to read that: Nick Kyrgios, who only competes in selected tournaments this year (most recently in Wimbledon, the Australian lost in round three by giving up against Félix Auger-Aliassime, for Tokyo he canceled due to the lack of fans), commented rather sullenly on the ATP preview of the Saturday matches of the tour: “Why are people still playing on clay? That brings no fans, no hype, ”tweeted Kyrgios.
Interestingly, under a tweet in which the ATP also listed the semi-finals in Los Cabos. It is known that they play on hard courts. After all: Richard Gasquet received the blessing from Nick Kyrgios. After all, he's playing for points. Kyrgios deliberately overlooked the fact that players likeCasper Ruud , one of the best on the 2021 tour, or Carlos Alcaraz, one of the most hopeful for the future, are still at the start. Especially with Ruud, he does not have a deep friendship after meeting in Rome in 2019.
Kyrgios and the dirty shoes
Now the sequence of the floor coverings on the tour with mainly British turf, European sand and North American hard court within a few weeks is certainly not ideal and takes getting used to. But also established over many years. And Kyrgios' announcement that the matches would bypass the general public is simply wrong. Most recently in Hamburg the permitted capacity was exhausted, next week in Kitzbühel the stadium at the Generali Open could even be completely full.
There also at the start: Ruud and Alcaraz. And especially around the 18-year-old Spaniard something like, yes, a hype is developing. Maybe Nick Kyrgios just wanted to express his aversion to clay court tennis again. After all, they would just get their expensive shoes dirty there, as the Canberra man pointed out a few years ago.