Kyrgios, Verdasco engage in Twitter spat at Miami Open
Australian professional tennis player Nick Kyrgios and Spanish player Fernando Verdasco got engaged in a social media spat at the Miami Open.
The drama started when Kyrgios tweeted his support for close mate Thanasi Kokkinakis, who was preparing to play Verdasco in the third round following his epic upset of Roger Federer on the weekend.
"I hope TK wins this match, fernando is the saltiest dude," Kyrgios wrote, adding, "must be frustrated at his past success against Aussies."
However, the tweet was deleted after a few minutes.
Fernando, who has a poor run against Australian players, recently lost to Alex de Minaur in the first round at the Sydney International in January.
But, the world number 39 broke his losing streak in a fiery match against Kokkinakis, coming back from a set down to win a third set tiebreak. He'll play countryman Pablo Carreno Busta in the fourth round.
After his victory over Kokkinakis, an angry Verdasco took to Twitter to hit back.
@NickKyrgios when you have the courage to put a tweet insulting another player you need to have the same to don’t delete it.
— Fernando Verdasco (@FerVerdasco) March 26, 2018
Kyrgios, who enjoyed a speedy 6-3 6-3 win on Monday to reach the fourth round, did not end the spat there and fired off one final message:
I would honestly have told it to Fernando’s face, the reason I deleted my previous tweet was because I didn’t want to cause unwanted attention, but I’m just gonna leave this here. Thanks for blocking me, I’m sure that took a lot of courage x
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) March 26, 2018
Verdasco on Tuesday will face fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, the 16th seed. Whereas, Kyrgios will battle German fourth seed Alexander Zverev.