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Controversy never seems to be far away from Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios. The Wimbledon finalist recently took to Twitter to question why there is a tournament on claycourt being held while the season is heading into the hardcourt swing in America.
Several smaller tournaments are contested on claycourts after the conclusion of Wimbledon and the grasscourt season. The Swiss Open is scheduled to begin on Monday, with big names like Casper Ruud, Matteo Berrettini, Dominic Thiem among others participating in the tournament. Meanwhile, the Hamburg European Open is also underway and is an ATP 500 event.
Kyrgios took to Twitter to reply to a post by the official ATP Twitter account as the Australian questioned why a claycourt tournament is being held at this time of the year. The claycourt season ended with the French Open at the start of June.
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"Why is there clay leading up to the US Open swing…..," Kyrgios wrote.
Subsequently, tennis fans took to the social media platform to reply to Kyrgios's tweet stating their reasons for why the tournament is being held now, with a lot of comments being tongue and cheek.
"Because people like to see actual tennis points being played," one fan wrote.
"Tournaments on clay, after Wimbledon, have always been a classic. Many top Australian players used the stop over in Switzerland to keep on playing, making some money, on the way back to Australia. This is history. Be respectful," one fan wrote.
Another set of fans spoke about how claycourts are easier and cheaper to maintain and as a result, they are being held whenever possible.
"Because it's not all about the slams (and 1000s)! Tournaments don't need to lead to bigger tournaments, they can stand on their own feet," one fan wrote.
Nick Kyrgios 2022 season thus far
Nick Kyrgios started his 2022 season at his home Grand Slam, where his pursuit of the singles title ended in the second round at the hands of Daniil Medvedev. However, he did have success in the men's doubles event, where he won the title partnering Thanasi Kokkinakis. The pair beat Max Purcell and Matt Ebden 7-5, 6-4 in what was an all-Australian final.
Kyrgios followed up the success at home with a quarterfinal appearance at Indian Wells, where he lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal 7-6(0), 5-7, 6-4. He then reached the last 16 of the Miami Open where he lost to Italian Jannik Sinner in straight-sets.
However, the highlight of Nick Kyrgios's season came on the grasscourts as the fiery Australian reached the final of Wimbledon. He came into Wimbledon with two semifinal appearances at Halle and Stuttgart.
Nick Kyrgios carried that brilliant form onto SW19 as he beat the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas and others en route to the final. Facing top seeded Novak Djokovic, Kyrgios lost to the Serb in four sets.
