Amid Novak Djokovic’s battle in Australia over his cancelled visa, Nick Kyrgios supported the “alienated” tennis world number one and also criticised a lack of backing from other players.
Djokovic, who was looking forward to participating in the Australian Open, faced a decisive court hearing Sunday on the eve of this year’s first Grand Slam.
Commenting on the situation, the Australian tennis player Kyrgios, who has been a critic of Djokovic, surprisingly came to his defence and termed the treatment as “really bad”.
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“Novak has reached out to me personally on IG (Instagram) saying ‘Thank you for standing up for me’,” Kyrgios said on his ‘No Boundaries’ podcast.
“I was not the one he was expecting to go out in the media and have his back. As a human, he’s obviously feeling quite alienated in all of this,” he added.
“As a human, that’s a dangerous place to be in – when you feel like the world is against you, like you can’t do anything right,” he further said.
Kyrgios, who arrived in Melbourne to compete at the tournament after spending a week in isolation with Covid, said more players should be backing the 20-time Grand Slam champion.
“Imagine how he’s feeling. He probably just wants a little bit of support now from other players,” he said. “Hey bro, he’s getting it from me.”
After the final court battle, the court will decide the fate of the tennis star after a rollercoaster 10 days that saw him detained by immigration authorities, released and then detained again ahead of a tournament that starts on Monday.
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