Nick Kyrgios claims opponent’s coaches ‘threatened to fight’ him as heated exchange caught on camera

metro.co.uk:

Nick Kyrgios claims the coaches of his most recent Australian Open opponents sensationally ‘threatened to fight’ him after their match.

The 26-year-old and his compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis delighted their home crowd with a 7-6 (10-7), 6-3 win over Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic to reach the third round on Friday.

As expected, the Aussie pair had the fans on their side throughout the match, much to the frustration of the No.1 seeds, and it seems the duo’s coaching team were far from happy with the outcome of the result come the end of the match.

Kyrgios took to Twitter, posting: ‘Just letting you know after yesterday’s chop fest in doubles my opponents coach and trainer proceeded to threaten to fight in the players gym tennis is a soft soft sport @TKokkinakis all because I moved and hit them with a tennis ball.’

His partner Kokkinaksi tweeted: ‘That was crazy, mans thought it was UFC.’

Australia’s home broadcaster Channel Nine shared video footage of an animated Kyrgios, wearing red, off the court seemingly explaining the incident to his team.

Former player and commentator Sam Groth explained in more detail about the Aussie pair’s claims.

‘Thanasi actually messaged me as it was happening and said Nick got accosted in the locker room by Pavic’s fitness trainer,’ he said.

‘Obviously weren’t very happy, the number one team in the world, number one seeds going down against Thanasi and Nick.