Or even his girlfriend and teammate Naomi Osaka, whose first client he became two years ago at the Evolve agency. While Kyrgios respects these four women, he has a history of disrespecting women in general.

This time, there will probably be no apology, as he wrote in a subsequent tweet that it was “hilarious” that people were “triggered” by “a few words.”

Many social media users demanded that Kyrgios’ employer, ESPN, the US Open commentator, should fire him. Of course, they will not do that because they see him as a cash cow that can help them for two weeks.

Kyrgios also wrote columns for this imprint during the Australian Open.

This is the same serial apologist who pleaded guilty earlier last year to pushing his ex-partner to the ground in a late-night incident – but not before unsuccessfully attempting to have the case dismissed on mental health grounds. Judge Beth Campbell found that Kyrgios was not mentally impaired or suffering from depression.

“I was not feeling well when this happened and I reacted to a difficult situation in a way that I deeply regret. I know it was not OK and I am truly sorry for causing so much pain,” Kyrgios said after the court ruling.

“Mental health is hard. Life can seem overwhelming. But I’ve found that I feel better and am better because I get help and work on myself.”

Kyrgios is an excellent master of both fake apologies and his boastfulness and arrogance.

The saddest thing about the whole situation is that Kyrgios is (was?) an extremely entertaining and talented tennis player who has remarkable power and one of the best serves of all time and can turn even the most banal match into a worthwhile event.

At some point, Kyrgios became so emboldened by his popularity and defiant of his critics that he decided he could do almost anything.

He is also one of those people who pretends not to care about other people’s opinions, but in reality is desperate to find out everything that is said about him, whether positive or negative, and even searches for his own name on “X”.

Self-righteousness is another characteristic of Kyrgios.

He was the most vocal critic of Sinner’s decision to avoid a ban after testing positive twice for the banned steroid clostebol, calling the decision “ridiculous” and saying anyone in his situation “should be gone for two years.”

Kyrgios’ stance typically lacked nuance and deeper thought.

He did not believe Sinner’s explanation that the positive test results were accidentally due to the action of his physiotherapist, who regularly gave him full-body massages and at the same time treated a cut with a healing spray.

An independent panel also concluded that the amount of clostebol in Sinner’s body – one billionth of a gram – had no performance-enhancing effect.

When one of his supporters politely asked if the rules weren’t too strict and if a player should be penalized for having no idea how an illegal substance got into his body, Kyrgios mocked him, calling him a “potato” for believing the explanation and insinuating that Sinner was a doping offender.

This interaction summed up Kyrgios perfectly. Even when he is trying to do good, or thinks he is doing good, he is going about it the wrong way.

Load

Catherine Whitaker, co-host at The Tennis Podcastsummed it up two years ago when she commented on Kyrgios’s abrasiveness when he spoke about the abuse athletes face on social media. And yes, it is amusing that Kyrgios, of all people, would complain about people saying hurtful things to him.

“It really annoys me that he can’t make this point logically and leave it at that or let it lead to something logical or interesting or productive,” Whitaker said at the time.

“Because what he actually does is make that point and then use it in his head to justify any behavior both on the pitch and subsequently in the press room.”

And apparently also on social media.

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