A war of words has broken out between Fernando Verdasco and two Australian players regarding his heated third round win at the Miami Open.
On Monday the Spaniard took on Thanasi Kokkinakis, who he defeated 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4), in a match marred by an argument between the two players. During the third set the two locked horns after Verdasco complained about a member of the crowd talking whilst he was serving. Saying that he was interrupting his game.
“What I cannot accept is that the guy behind is talking in between the first and second serve,” Verdasco said.
It turned out that the man in question was Kokkinakis’ farther after Verdasco pointed him out in the crowd. Resulting in a heated verbal exchange between the two players. The Spaniard attempted to cool down the situation, but it had little impact on his fired up opponent.
“I didn’t mean to disrespect you, I was talking to him,” Verdasco said, pointing to a man in the crowd.
“That’s my dad, it’s my dad so it’s affecting me”, Kokkinakis then responded.
Once it was established that the man in the crowd was the father of the tennis player, Verdasco appeared to be caught off guard. Although he refused to back down from his claims, saying to Kokkinakis ‘“F*ck, he was talking to me through the first and second serve, you know how this is.’
Kokkinakis & Verdasco getting into it on Grandstand in 3rd Rd at #MiamiOpen.. Issue is with TK’s father sitting in first row… Medvedev Tsitsipas looks like the undercard #ATP pic.twitter.com/GSQwCgnVd9
— John Horn (@SportsHorn) 26 March 2018
Moments after his win, the world No.39 apologised for complaining about his opponent’s father. During an interview with Sky Sports, he insisted that his complaint wasn’t to disrupt Kokkinakis’ performance. The Australian was leading 3-1 in the deciding set before dropping serve.
“I was losing my focus because of this person talking between first and second serve and also in the third set when I doubled faulted and he started screaming and shouting supporting Thanasi so I told him to be respectful,” Verdasco told Sky Sports.
“I didn’t mean to do anything wrong and Thanasi started talking to me when I didn’t mean to disrupt him or try to lose his focus at all.
“I told him I’m sorry and I didn’t know who this person was and actually it was his dad, I never met his dad before and I told him that I’m really sorry.”
The Twitter feud with Kyrgios
Off the court another argument was brewing, but this time it involved world No.20 Nick Kyrgios, who won his third round match 6-3, 6-3. During the closing stages of Verdasco’s match, Kyrgios described the 34-year-old as the ‘saltiest dude’ on social media before making fun of his record against Australian players. Prior to this week, Verdasco has lost his past six matches against Australian players. His tweet has since been deleted.
“@Nick Kyrgios: I hope TK wins this match, Verdasco is the saltiest dude, must be frustrated at his past success against aussies.”
Hitting back at the comment, Verdasco criticised Kyrgios for writing and then deleting his comment. There is a possibility that the two players could play each other in Miami if they reach the semifinals.
“@FerVerdasco: when you have the courage to put a tweet insulting another player you need to have the same to don’t delete it.”
The spat continued between the two online when Kyrgios uploaded another tweet. One he said that he has no intention of deleting.
I would honestly have told it to Fernando’s face, the reason I deleted my previous tweet was because I didn’t want to cause unwanted attention, but I’m just gonna leave this here. Thanks for blocking me, I’m sure that took a lot of courage x
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) 26 March 2018
In the fourth round Verdasco will take on Pablo Carreno Busta. Meanwhile, Kyrgios faces fourth seed Alexander Zverev.
