Nick Kyrgios jumps to Iga Swiatek’s defence over cap criticism

Chinese tennis star Wu Yibing on his journey to ATP Tour

Nick Kyrgios has backed Iga Swiatek after she was bizarrely slammed for the way she wears her cap by former tennis star Jimmy Arias. Former World No 5 Arias accused Swiatek of ‘not being great for women’s tennis’ before making reference to her cap.

Swiatek often wears her cap low on her forehead while on court. It prompted Arias to launch into an astounding rant about the Polish ace. 

“I don’t think she’s been great for women’s tennis. She wears her hat so low that you can’t even see her face or her eyes during a match,” Arias said. 

“So you don’t get a connection as much as you could. I don’t mind her getting angry in some ways, but I want to see her personality.”

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But Swiatek has been backed by fellow professional Kyrgios, who accused Arias of giving a ‘horrible take’. The Aussie took to social media to slam the 58-year-old, who works as an analyst for American broadcaster ESPN. 

“Another horrible take,” Kyrgios responded to a tweet that included the quote, adding laughing emojis to make clear his displeasure. Kyrgios’ response to the tweet was perhaps buoyed by the fact that Arias has recently taken aim at the Australian, too. 

“He’s played once so far this year. I’m not sure (his) wrist, knee (or) his tattoo is hurting him too much – (from playing) Pokemon maybe. I don’t know,” Arias said after Kyrgios insisted he would be retired by the age of 33. 

“The guy is so talented, he doesn’t really train, he doesn’t do all the things that are actually difficult and make it hard. And he doesn’t seem to care, although obviously he does.”

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Kyrgios hit back by tagging Arias in a tweet which read: “You got some sort of issue? 

“Although I had no idea who you were before my mate messaged me 10 mins ago, I’d appreciate if you kept my name out of your mouth to keep you relevant… well at least to give you some form of credibility.”

Kyrgios, 28, has played just once this year due to injury. He was defeated by Yibing Wu in Stuttgart in June, and has not been able to enter any of the three Grand Slams so far in 2023. 

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