A couple of tennis' top names issued a somewhat muted criticism of Australian Nick Kyrgios' comment about Stan Wawrinka's girlfriend during their Rogers Cup match earlier this week.
Tennis.com reported that world's No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 3 Andy Murray, while not condoning the 20-year-old's behavior for trash-talking that Wawrinka's girlfriend slept with his friend, didn't drop the hammer on the mercurial Kyrgios, either.
Nick Kyrgios makes lewd comment about Stan Wawrinka's girlfriend during tennis match
"He's young," Djokovic said, according to Tennis.com. "He's just started playing professional tennis recently."
He added: "I'm sure he's right at the top of the rising tennis stars. He's got his own character, his own personality. This is individual sport. But for me it's important being there for a decade now that at least, there is a respect, you know, between the players and towards the sport as well. I think that's something he's got to learn. Other than that, I think he's a good guy. I never had any problems with him personally. Some players have problems to control themselves on the court. But again, there's no excuse for what happened yesterday."
Nick Kyrgios exhibits bizarre behavior at Wimbledon
Murray was even more lukewarm.
"I don't want to say anything bad about Nick because, you know, I like him," Murray said. "Most important thing is that he learns from what happened yesterday. In other sports that sort of thing happens more often than we imagine. But in tennis, yeah, there's things you shouldn't do. That was probably one of them."
Only former No. 1 Rafael Nadal didn't qualify his criticism for Krygios.
"Age is no excuse," Nadal said. "Is just about respect. He was wrong yesterday. I hope he's able to recognize his mistake, and I hope he's able to change his attitude that sometimes in the court is necessary if you want to be in the tour. He has time to improve that attitude.
"I don't understand very well why he say that. Is completely unnecessary," Nadal added. "The world of tennis, I think we should represent and we should be an example for new generation of kids... Yesterday was not one of those moments."
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