Thursday 20 August 2015 06:58, UK
Nick Kyrgios' derogatory comments to Stan Wawrinka speaks volumes for his character and has "vaporised" everybody's love of the sport, says Mark Petchey.
The tennis expert admitted that it now "leaves an even worse taste in the mouth" after Wawrinka revealed to Sky Sports that the Australian hadn't yet apologised to him for his on-court sledging at the Montreal Masters.
Kyrgios was fined and sparked a global uproar after an on-court microphone recorded him utter an insult involving Wawrinka's "girlfriend" and Australian player Thanasi Kokkinakis during their encounter at the Montreal Masters last week.
The two-time Grand Slam champion has been romantically linked with 19-year-old Croatian player Donna Vekic, who played mixed doubles with Kokkinakis at the Australian Open last year, since he separated from his wife in April.
Wawrinka spoke to Sky Sports after fighting off Borna Coric to reach the third round of the Cincinnati Masters with a 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 win on Wednesday, saying Kyrgios hasn't apologised for his on-court jibe.
And Petchey said of the situation: "If what he just said is true and I think I heard him right - I'm sorry but what he did didn't just cross the line, it vaporised it for everybody that loves this sport.
"The argument that it happens in every other sport doesn't make it right, it's wrong in the other sports as far as I'm concerned.
"If that's how socially we're supposed to act with our fellow human beings in a sporting occasion then it's just wrong.
"Things happen in life when we're still doing things wrong - all of us - but then you've got to go back and say 'I'm sorry, I realise now in the heat of the moment it was a shocker'. I mean he actually did it twice in the match so it wasn't in the heat of the moment.
"And then to not walk up to the people he has offended, to not say, 'I'm deeply, deeply sorry' - that just leaves an even worse taste in the mouth.
"The first offence was unpalatable, but to not to go back and try to make amends for what you've done says things about him in that unfortunately will define him as a person.
"People are going to remember this (rather) than the triumphs that are going to come his way on a tennis court."
Charisma or cruelty?
Australia's tennis establishment has been supportive to the 20-year-old from Canberra with Davis Cup captain Wally Masur playing down the sledge as "not confrontational".
And there has been plenty of inference from some quarters in the tennis world where there have been calls for more characters in the game, but Petchey disagrees.
"Let's not mix up charisma with being cruel and being cutting and being callous, that's very different to having charisma.
"Let's put it in context, he's not just gone out there and sort of bad mouthed a fellow player man to man in his face, on the court. He's gone and thrown two people under the bus. These are people's lives, plus Stan's as well. It's just massive what he did.
"This is not just about being charismatic on the tennis court. That's about being wrong and fundamentally should never have happened and so people who have been apologising for Kyrgios saying, 'well, we need charisma, we need bring people that bring something else to the game'. Yes, to a degree, absolutely.
"But possibly that has been taken to the nth degree here and he could say, 'well, I can pretty much do what I want because people want a villain, this is the pantomime'.
He's gone and thrown two people under the bus. These are people's lives, plus Stan's as well. It's just massive what he did.
"Yes, we don't mind a pantomime to a certain degree, but not when you ruin other people's lives. Words do hurt and they do stay, they don't get erased from the memory.
"It's really disappointing that Stan's not sitting there saying, 'he's really put the olive branch out and absolutely gone further than he needed to say sorry'. It's like he's not done that."
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