Thanasi Kokkinakis has been concerned in a heated internet trade that has the tennis world speaking.
The Aussie star was fired up after a prickly loss to Spanish rival Jaume Munar on the Madrid Open and the strain threatened to boil over as they met on the internet after match level.
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Earlier the pair traded verbal barbs throughout the first set tie-break when Kokkinakis advised the umpire about his opponent repeatedly speaking to his coach, who was sitting courtside.
Munar agitatedly tried to interject as Kokkinakis was talking to the chair umpire.
Kokkinakis responded to his opponent by saying, “Bro, you don’t shut up.”
He then advised the match official: “I just thought it was rich for him to complain about talking because he’s done the same thing the whole time”.
The pair went at it once more within the second set with Kokkinakis main 5-2 earlier than Munar got here again to win 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-3).
That wasn’t the top of it.
After shaking arms on the finish the pair exchanged phrases and Munar might be heard saying: “Don’t tell me to shut up again”.
Kokkinakis might be heard responding: “Or what?”.
They pair have been speaking for nearly two minutes and the chair umpire at one level tried to interject.
It ended with a slightly-cool second handshake.
It was one in every of a number of dramatic moments on the opening day of the Masters 1000 occasion, which started with former US Open champion Emma Raducanu pulling out earlier than her first match.
Raducanu is about to drop out of the highest 100.
She mentioned by event officers {that a} hand harm pressured her to give up the occasion — coming simply hours after her frosty press convention was reduce.
Raducanu has been beset by well being issues this yr, affected by a wrist harm throughout her first spherical defeat by Bianca Andreescu within the Miami Open in March.
“I’m able to play in the short-term, but the current solutions aren’t very viable long-term,” mentioned Raducanu after defeat in Miami.
Raducanu, who has additionally suffered from tonsillitis, has solely performed 10 matches this season and gained 5.
She withdrew from occasions in Auckland and Austin earlier this yr and can now be focusing on Rome and the French Open, which begins May 28.
Raducanu had advised reporters in Madrid her wrist was “OK” amid a tense news convention Tuesday.
Since turning into the primary qualifier in historical past to win a Grand Slam, Raducanu has burned by a string of coaches, at present working with Sebastian Sachs
— with AFP
Source: www.news.com.au
