Nick Kyrgios takes a dig at Lleyton Hewitt following Ajla Tomljanovic's United Cup 2023 withdrawal

Nick Kyrgios took a dig at Team Australia's captain Lleyton Hewitt after compatriot Ajla Tomljanovic withdrew from her first United Cup match due to a left knee injury.

Kyrgios himself had withdrawn from the United Cup one day before the start of the mixed-team event. He was scheduled to face Cameron Norrie in his first game on Thursday (December 29), but the 27-year-old surprised everyone by pulling out of the competition just before Wednesday's press conference.

Everyone was taken aback by Kyrgios' news, including captain Lleyton Hewitt, who learned of his withdrawal at the same time as everyone else: 10 minutes before Team Australia were scheduled to speak with the media.

Hewitt said during the press conference that the entire incident was an example of "lack of communication", and he also criticized Kyrgios for not thinking about his team.

"For the whole team, it was pretty tough not knowing what was going on the last 24 hours. It was more probably the lack of communication," Hewitt said.

"If it was just worrying Nick, that's one thing, but when it revolves around the team and other people and I guess their preparation, they want to be playing as well as they can, not just in this event but also leading into the Australian Open. That's probably the hardest thing," he added.

Hewitt's comments were not well received by Nick Kyrgios, who took to Twitter to express his displeasure. The controversial tennis pro questioned whether Samantha Stosur, the team's other captain, would "throw Ajla Tomljanovic under the bus" for her withdrawal, like Hewitt had supposedly done with him.

"Mmm I wonder if Stosur will throw her under the bus like our captain did for me, ‘hard to prepare when you don’t know what’s going on’," Kyrgios wrote.

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"Your apology should be as loud as your disrespect was" - Nick Kyrgios demands apology from tennis fans for calling him a "villain" for United Cup 2023 withdrawal

Nick Kyrgios pictured at the World Tennis League - Day 3.

While it is not surprising that Nick Kyrgios faced harsh criticism for his last-minute withdrawal from the 2023 United Cup, it is also understandable why the Aussie would feel the need to respond to his critics.

Reacting to the negative tweets, Kyrgios defended himself by boasting about being featured in the first episode of the upcoming Netflix documentary Break Point to increase the popularity of tennis. Additionally, he demanded an apology and said that it needed to be "as loud as the disrespect."

"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 wrote.

"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 added.