Tennis News: Australian tennis stars baffled by Nick Kyrgios' Davis Cup rejection in favour of 'six-figure' Saudi payday
Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt and Alex de Minaur have expressed their frustration at Nick Kyrgios after he made himself unavailable for the Davis Cup final to compete at a tournament with a six-figure payday in Saudi Arabia.
No Davis Cup for Nick KyrgiosAustralia had advanced to the championship match of the Davis Cup for the first time in 19 years.
However, the Australian squad consisting of Alex de Minaur, Jordan Thompson, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Max Purcell, and Matt Ebden failed to match the firepower of Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A magnificent run comes to an end for our Australian Davis Cup team.<br><br>A first final in 19 years is still a fantastic effort 👏<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoAussies?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoAussies</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DavisCupFinals?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DavisCupFinals</a><a href="https://t.co/bEjqGMCvDL">https://t.co/bEjqGMCvDL</a></p>— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) <a href="https://twitter.com/TennisAustralia/status/1596896082780246016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Kyrgios has had his best season this year, winning the Washington Open title alongside three doubles titles. He also had an excellent run at Wimbledon and advanced to his first-ever Grand Slam final.
However, the 27-year-old Australian decided not to participate in the Davis Cup Final after he crashed out of the doubles event at the ATP Finals. He decided to compete at the Diriyah Tennis Cup in Saudi Arabia instead.
Several big names such as Daniil Medvedev, Cameron Norrie, Andrey Rublev, Stan Wawrinka, Alexander Zverev, and Dominic Thiem will be participating in the exhibition event.
British No.1 Cameron Norrie has been heavily criticized due to the widespread backlash the event has attracted.
The Diriyah Tennis Cup will take place on the outskirts of Riyadh from 8-10 December. The competition winner will claim the prize pot of US$1million.
Hewitt, commenting on Kyrgios' Davis Cup absence, said, "I don't know. You have to ask him. I can't try any harder. I try to come here with the best possible team we can field."
De Minaur claimed he tried to convince Kyrgios to rejoin the Australian squad at the Davis Cup, but failed. He said, "I have tried. Just was not meant to be."
Kyrgios, the world No.22, did not try to conceal his motives for snubbing the Davis Cup. On Instagram, he wrote, "Saudi Arabia and Dubai are all that's left. You know I gotta get the bag."