Mats Wilander says changes should be made to the rules following a controversial third round meeting between Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas at Wimbledon.
The Saturday night encounter was marred by controversy with the Australian arguing with the umpire and swearing. Meanwhile, his Greek rival received a point penalty for hitting a ball into the crowd out of anger. Following their clash, Tsitsipas sensationally accused his rival of bullying.
Wilander spoke about the incident during a discussion with Ubitennis’ founder Ubaldo Scanagatta where he also previewed Jannik Sinner’s clash with Carlos Alcaraz at SW19.
The full interview can be read below:-
UBITENNIS: What do you think about the chances of Jannik Sinner against Carlos Alcaraz?
WILANDER: First of all, I thought Jannik was going to have a much bigger problem with John Isner. Then I saw his match and he is playing unbelievably well. He’s incredibly aggressive and doesn’t make mistakes.
UBITENNIS: But Alcaraz is also very agressive?
WILANDER: Yes, he is serving well and moving better than Jannik. But Jannik is older and we don’t know what the thing is between them. Just like Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios. We don’t know what it was when they were like 10,11, 12.. in practice.
Maybe Jannik use to beat Alcaraz all the time in practice? This psychology is way more important than tennis (in their upcoming match), in my opinion.
This is exactly what happened with Tsitsipas and Kyrgios, Zverev and Kyrgios. He (Kyrgios) beats them almost all the time because they have this respect and he is a couple of years older.
UBITENNIS: Carlos has more variety than Sinner
WILANDER: He is more inconsistent, he is a little bit faster and has more options. But more options are not how Novak Djokovic won Wimbledon. The fewer options you have in big matches the easier it is to play your game. So for Alcaraz, can he get the drop shots right? Can he get the serve and volley right? Can he hit the right forehand at the right time?
(But) Jannik goes in at the right time. So if Alcaraz played great he’s the favorite but when have we seen him play great in a big match (at Wimbledon)? We don’t know yet that he has only played two-out-of-three set matches. Maybe he did against Tsitsipas at the US Open but this is a different level.
UBITENNIS: Who was right in the Tsitsipas and Kyrgios argument?
WILANDER: They both have a point, to be honest. Kyrgios said that Stefanos must be a bit soft mentally if he gets that bothered by him being himself.
I would say the one to blame is the officials. They are playing within the rules we have now so you can’t blame them, they are trying to win a tennis match. This is what Kyrgios plays like, this is what he does. If you fall for it, then you need to improve your mental stability. At the same time, I would have also felt as Stefanos did.
I think (the problem) lies with the official situation. I am not saying they could have done anything (during the third round match) but we need to put rules in place so they can’t do this. We don’t have tennis matches that look like that. I know the crowd loved it but tennis needs to be a sport where you can take your five-year-old and not worry about them getting hit with a tennis ball or hearing a player swearing loudly 20 times. The sport needs to be like that otherwise the sport is becoming entertainment and that is not what tennis is. it is a sport, it’s educational and inspirational more than entertainment.
