Kyrgios hits out at Coric: ‘Do you have rocks in your head?’

Nick Kyrgios escalates war of words with Borna Coric and claims he’s trying to hold fellow players ‘accountable’ for poor COVID-19 decisions.

There may have been some British beef at the Battle of the Brits this week, but Australia’s Kyrgios has upped the ante once more with some spuds and a doughnut for dessert as the fallout from Novak Djokovic’s Adria Tour continues to rumble on.

Kyrgios was one of the most vociferous critics of the exhibition series, which was cancelled after a slew of players including Grigor Dimitrov, Djokovic himself and Croatia’s Borna Coric tested positive for COVID-19. Social distancing measures were not observed, to say the least, during the tour, which aimed to raise funds for relief projects in the Balkan region.

Among other things, Kyrgios called the tour ‘boneheaded’. He was also vocal in his disapproval when Alexander Zverev, who had participated in the Adria Tour and publicly declared that he was self-isolating, was filmed partying at an extremely crowded bar – behaviour Kyrgios described as ‘idiotic’.

Kyrgios’s comments were not well received by Boris Becker, who said he didn’t like ‘rats’, or by world no. 3 Dominic Thiem, who said that Kyrgios should ‘come clean instead of criticising others’. ‘This just shows what a joke [Thiem, Zverev and Djokovic] think this is, 2 of them partying like potato’s during a global pandemic,’ Kyrgios shot back.

Now world no. 33 Borna Coric has got involved, telling Croatian newspaper Jutarjni that Kyrgios ‘enjoys being a general after battle’.

Coric said:

‘I read what he wrote, but I don’t care. He enjoys being a general after battle. Coming from someone else, I might have understood, but Kyrgios … It’s not really realistic.

‘It’s his style, he works like that, there is no problem. Zverev behaved badly, but I don’t understand the need to criticize a colleague like that. I wouldn’t have. But, again, it’s Kyrgios.’

Predictably, Kyrgios picked up on the comments via social media and defended himself, riposting: ‘You should care. Do you have rocks in your head?’

You should care. Do you have rocks in your head? Again, you can stand up for your mates, I’m just trying to hold them accountable. When I said what I said, I didn’t intend to bother. They are tennis players, they aren’t special. Just as I thought Coric intellectual level = 0 (?) https://t.co/KNBa5mNG77

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) July 29, 2020

Kyrgios also exhorted Coric to read recent comments about the condition Dimitrov found himself in after his bout of COVID-19. The world no. 19, the first player to test positive on the Adria Tour who then found himself blamed by the Djokovic family, admitted this weekend that he is very doubtful to play the US Open after losing 3kgs in weight, being kept off court entirely for a month and still struggling with his energy level amidst bouts of fatigue.

@borna_coric Just making sure that you spuds didn’t cause more players to feel like Dimitrov. Have you read how he continued to feel after he tested negative? Or that’s too much for that brain of yours to process? ??‍♂️

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) July 29, 2020

The Australian continued to showcase his creativity in exchanges with Djokovic fans, calling the same person a ‘quail’, a ‘pelican’ and an ‘albatross’.

Kyrgios has also been extremely sceptical about the prospect of the US Open taking place, as it is scheduled to do, from 31 August-13 September behind closed doors in New York.