Nick Kyrgios wants people to apologize for calling him a villain following criticism for United Cup 2023 withdrawal

Nick Kyrgios has hit back at his critics, particularly the media, for calling him out after he withdrew from the United Cup a day before the event was due to begin.

Announced in September this year, the inaugural edition of the new mixed-team tournament has replaced the ATP Cup as a warm-up event for the first Grand Slam of the year — the Australian Open. It will see men and women from 18 countries compete against each other. Matches will be held from December 29 to January 8 in Perth, Brisbane, and Sydney.

Just before the pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday, Kyrgios withdrew, citing an ankle injury that he sustained during an exhibition event in Dubai recently. The decision came as a shock even to his teammates. The 27-year-old was set to face Great Britain's Cameron Norrie and Spain's Rafael Nadal in the group stages but was replaced by 24th-ranked Alex de Minaur.

The 2022 Wimbledon finalist received quite a lot of flack from the tennis world over his last-minute exit, prompting him to react. Kyrgios took to social media to defend himself as he stated that he, along with Thanasi Kokkinakis, was going to feature in the first episode of Break Point, a soon-to-be-released tennis documentary on Netflix. He added that he was trying to boost the popularity of tennis.

"Haha so after all this, all the media, journalism saying how bad I am for the sport, disrespecting the game & just a pure villain, I am going to be the number 1 episode on Netflix… to grow our fan base, basically trying to put tennis on the map again," Kyrgios tweeted.

"And essentially putting more money in everyone’s pockets that’s involved with tennis, you all look really ridiculous now. Your apology should be as loud as your disrespect was," he wrote.

---

"Real know real" - Nick Kyrgios after Rafael Nadal praised him

Rafael Nadal (L) and Nick Kyrgios

Rafael Nadal showered praise on Nick Kyrgios during a pre-tournament press conference in Sydney on Wednesday. The Spaniard stated that the 22nd-ranked player possessed all the weapons to win any tournament that he featured in.

"I know he doesn't like a lot to play Roland Garros. That's the only tournament that looks like he doesn't like to play that much. The rest of the tournaments, he played final in Wimbledon, and in New York he was close to the finals I think, with a very positive chance. He can win in any tournament that he's playing. He has all the talent, the weapons to win against any player. Of course he can," Nadal said.

The Australian responded by showing gratitude towards the 22-time Grand Slam champion.

"Real know real," Nick Kyrgios wrote in his Instagram story.