Nick Kyrgios reacts angrily after losing out to retired Ashleigh Barty for top Australian award
- Planet Sport writer
- 13 December 2022
The decision to hand Ashleigh Barty the 2022 Newcombe Medal – Australia's top tennis award – has not gone down well with Nick Kyrgios.
Former world No 1 Barty won the award for a fifth time on the back of becoming the first Australian woman to win the Australian Open in 44 years while she also won the Adelaide International singles and doubles title.
Those were her only events this year as she retired in March with an 11-0 win-loss record in singles in 2022 and 3-0 in doubles.
Kyrgios was one of the eight players who were nominated and the 27-year-old was looking to win the Newcombe Medal for the first time in his career, but it wasn't to be.
His nomination came on the back of reaching his maiden Grand Slam final as he finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon. He also won the Australian Open men's doubles title alongside Thanasi Kokkinakis and lifted the Washington Open singles and doubles trophies.
In total he played 13 singles tournaments - winning one title - with a win-loss record of 37-10 while he played 11 doubles tournaments - winning three titles - and he enjoyed a 24-8 record.
His performances saw him finish the year at No 22 in the ATP Rankings, having slipped out outside the top 130 earlier in the season, while he would have finished on the cusp of the top 10 had he picked up the 1,200 points for finishing runner-up at Wimbledon.
Kyrgios, though, was not pleased that he didn't win the award as he took to Instagram to express his unhappiness in a post that compared his 2022 statistics to that of Barty, writing: "LOL. No respect at all. Don't give a f***."
There was better news for Kyrgios on the ATP front as he and Kokkinakis were named the Fans' Favourite doubles team of the year in the 2022 ATP Awards.
Besides the Australian Open men's doubles title, the pair also won the Atlanta Open and qualified for the season-ending ATP Finals for the first time.
"Just wanted to say a massive thank you for voting us, me and Nick, as your fans' favorite ATP Doubles Team of the Year," Kokkinakis said.
"It's been a hell of a year, winning our first Grand Slam on home soil in Australia. Crazy atmosphere down there, the support we've gotten all year has been amazing. Thanks again and hopefully we can keep it rolling. We'll see you all in January. Thank you!"
Kyrgios commented on the award in his Instagram Stories, writing: "Obviously lol."
