Petkovic sad about behaviour of TV colleagues: “Misogynistic nonsense”

Andrea Petkovic ended her tennis career two years ago. She is now a sought-after presenter and TV expert – not only in Germany, but also internationally.

At the US Open, she worked for US television, commenting on and analyzing numerous matches. But after the tournament in her adopted home of New York, she was deeply disappointed in a fellow expert.

Petkovic on Kyrgios: “He could be fantastic on TV”

In her blog, Petkovic took stock of the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, both in sporting and personal terms. Under the heading “Things that make me unhappy,” she listed Nick Kyrgios (29). More precisely, “Nick Kyrgios on X.”

“His escapades there make me sad (and angry, but above all sad),” wrote the Darmstadt native about the Australian tennis pro, who has been out of action for over a year due to an injury. “He could be fantastic on TV, but he keeps sabotaging himself with misogynistic nonsense.”

Petkovic did not say which escapades she was referring to. Before the men’s final between the Italian Jannik Sinner (23) and the American Taylor Fritz (26), however, Kyrgios caused a stir with a comment about his ex-girlfriend Anna Kalinskaya (25), which probably also did not go unnoticed by Petkovic.

After an X-user posted a photo of Kyrgios and Kalinskaya from their time together, Kyrgios commented disparagingly: “Second serve.” View an X-Post with a screenshot here:

There is more to the saying. The Russian tennis player is now in a relationship with Sinner, supported her friends from the stands after her own tournament exit and also saw his triumph in the final against Fritz. Kyrgios had previously repeatedly criticized the world number one after Sinner’s acquittal despite two positive doping tests.

Many tennis fans viewed the post about Kalinskaya as sexist and even called for Kyrgios to be fired from ESPN. The Australian deleted the post but cannot understand the criticism of his “joke”. “I am good for tennis, period. On and off the court,” he wrote on Monday, modest as ever.

Petkovic sees it much more nuanced: “He delivers great content (as a TV expert, ed.), but he spoils it with his online personality,” says the former top ten player. For her, it’s also about credibility: “Nick says good things about women’s tennis on air, but if he continues to denigrate them (the players, ed.) online, people will eventually stop believing him on air.”

By Antje Rehse (are)