Kyrgios in war of words with Nadal family over Italian Open default

The uncle of Rafael Nadal has spoken out about the controversial behaviour of tennis star Nick Kyrgios, just days after the Australian referred to Toni Nadal as “an idiot” in a podcast.

Kyrgios was defaulted out of the Italian Open after hurling a chair onto the court during his second round match with Caspar Rudd in Rome, with many calling for him to be suspended from the ATP Tour.

It came after Kyrgios gave an explosive interview to the No Challenges Remaining podcast, where he ripped into Toni Nadal.

“Uncle Toni came out saying, ‘He lacks education’. I’m like, ‘Bra, I did 12 years at school, you idiot. I’m very educated. I understand that you’re upset I beat your family again,’” Kyrgios told the podcast.

Toni Nadal has responded, giving an interview to El Espanol, saying Kyrgios is “not good for the sport” after his Italian Open meltdown.

“I have seen the images of what happened and they are painful,” says Toni. 

“Kyrgios has entered a dynamic that is hurting him, something is failing in his head because this is not normal for a player, it's bad for tennis right now.

“What the ATP should do right now is not to give it publicity, to make all this less visible, but of course, Kyrgios attracts the public.”

“If he demonstrated another mentality, he would be able to aspire to the maximum, but I think he has a hard time coping with the pressure and how complicated it is to compete, it does not do the sport any good, and therefore he deserves to be sanctioned.”

Kyrgios has apparently responded, with a Tweet some are suggesting is a dig at Toni. When New York Times tennis writer Ben Rothenberg tweeted a link to Toni’s comments, Kyrgios replied with a comment that “I’ll try and clean my act up.”

The ATP has reportedly decided to take no further action over his Rome default.  He will reportedly be fined $32,500, as well as forfeiting his prizemoney and ranking points from the Italian Open.