Nick Kyrgios defends Roger Federer from journalist's 'ridiculous' take

• Tennis News
• Roger Federer

Nick Kyrgios came to Roger Federer's defense after a journalist suggested that the Swiss tennis icon "played with fire" by playfully hitting the balls in the direction of ball boys during his Australian Open matches. Since Sunday, there has been a lot of talk regarding Miyu Kato's French Open default - with some claiming that the Japanese's inadvertent hit on a ball girl didn't warrant a default from her doubles match.

In Australia, Federer formed somewhat of a habit out of teeing ball kids up for spectacular catches. "Regardless of if this was the right call or not, and I don't think it was, players can afford to be more careful with this stuff, anyhow.

Roger Federer, notably, often played with fire by zipping balls at ball boys in Australia to test their cricket catches. Mixed results," Ben Rothenberg tweeted.

Kyrgios defends Federer from 'a ridiculous' take

"Hahaha now it gets ridiculous.

The GOAT having some fun and the ball kids are catching it, making their life memory compared to outside doubles match. Absurd," Kyrgios tweeted in response to the tweet.

Hahaha now it gets ridiculous. The 🐐having some fun and the ball kids are catching it, making their life memory compared to outeide doubles match.

Absurd 😂 https://t.co/g9RPjJBo85 — Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) June 5, 2023

Kato and her partner Aldila Sutjiadi were initially given a warning but then Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo went to the chair umpire seemingly pushing for a default.

After the supervisor was called, the decision was made for Kato and Sutjiadi to be defaulted. Kyrgios shared his thoughts on the situation, suggesting that even an unintentional hit on a ball kid warrants a default. "All around the world, whether it be having people chanting your name, idolising you, getting booed at, it’s always going to be a factor in sport.

Why are we having so many people complain about it? Also, it’s not about the intent, if you a hit a ball at a kid it’s a default," Kyrgios tweeted. Meanwhile, Kyrgios is preparing to kick off his 2023 season during the grass season.