Wimbledon quarter-finalist Nick Kyrgios has moved to head off an international spat with Drake after the Canadian hip-hop artist took umbrage with a joke about his music at Wimbledon.
One of tennis’s most promising young talents, the 19-year-old Australian blamed Drake’s music for a slow start against his third-round opponent Jiri Vesely.
“Today was a bit of rap, actually,” he told reporters at Wimbledon after beating the Czech 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-2.
“I came out really flat, so hopefully I won’t listen to that again. It was actually Drake. Yeah. Didn’t do the job for me.”
Drake hit back at Kyrgios in a conference call.
“I also want to meet this guy that says that he lost because he listened to my music,” US entertainment media quoted the 27-year-old as saying.
“I also want to meet that guy and look him in the eye and see exactly who he is as a man and size him up and then chop him right down. Nick whatever-his-name-is – because he didn’t win, so that’s how he’s going to be remembered: ‘Nick whatever-his-name-is’.”
Kyrgios, who took Wimbledon by storm by upsetting Rafa Nadal in the fourth round, moved to defuse the tension on Twitter yesterday.
“Let’s be clear. I like @Drake – love his music, just said I was a little flat, ended up winning that match. No blame game here,” he tweeted.