Tennis legend Boris Becker and Australia's Nick Kyrgios on Tuesday entered into an ugly war of words over Twitter after the latter had slammed fellow tennis player Alexander Zverev for partying, a video of which had gone viral over social media, just days after the Adria Tour disaster.
The Adria Tour, a set of exhibition events organised by Novak Djokovic, turned from worse to a disaster earlier last week after two coaches and four players including the world number one had tested positive for coronavirus. Zverev, who was part of the tournament, had tested negative but pledged self-isolation for 14 days. However, a video of him partying at a club in Monaco went viral on the internet on Monday.
Kyrgios slammed Zverev for his "selfish" act through a video on Twitter. Becker reacted to Kyrgios' tweet and called him a "rat", thereby resulting in a Twitter war.
“Don’t like no #rats ! Anybody telling off fellow sportsman/woman is no friend of mine! Look yourself in the mirror and think your better than us..,” Becker tweeted.
“Rats? For holding someone accountable? Strange way to think of it champion, I’m just looking out for people. WHEN my family and families all over the world have respectfully done the right thing. And you have a goose waving his arms around, imma say something.
“For goodness sake Boris, I’m not competing or trying to throw anyone under the bus. It’s a global pandemic and if someone is as idiotic as Alex to do what he has done, I’ll call him out for it. Simple,” Kyrgios replied.
Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov was the first tennis player to have tested positive followed by Borna Coric and Victor Troicki along with his pregnant wife. Moreover, Djokovic's wife Jelena, coach Goran Ivanisevic and fitness trainer also tested positive of the dreaded virus.
“There is an unspoken understanding between athletes! Whatever happens on the court stays there including the lockers! Nobody will talk about it ... #respect #sport #fellowship.
"I really would like to se @NickKyrgios fulfill his potential and win a grandslam! He would be an incredible role model for for the youth of the world addressing the issues of equality/race/heritage! Man up buddy and deliver!" Becker hit back at Kyrgios.
