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Tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas hits Dad and gets scolded by Mum

Greek tennis legend Stefanos Tsitsipas got more than he bargained for when he smashed his tennis racket in anger and accidentally hit his father and coach Apostolos.

Tsitsipas was playing against Nick Kyrgios, hot-headed Aussie tennis star, and was furious after losing a set to the Aussie.

Tsitsipas slammed his racquet into the bench and accidentally clipped his father and captain Apostolos Tsitsipas on the forearm.

His dad was not impressed and walked away briefly, before Tsitsipas’ mother Julia emerged from the crowd to yell at him for his behaviour.

However, the dressing down from mum did little to ease Tsitsipas’ temper as he received a point penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct early in the second set. This was after he smashed a ball into the bench, just missing his dad again.

Tsitsipas said it was an accident.

“It happened accidentally. I didn’t mean to do it and straight away forgot about it and moved on from there,” Tsitsipas said. “I wasn’t aiming to do that, so it went out of control, unfortunately.”

Kyrgios, World No. 30, returned from injury claimed a 7-6 (9-7) 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 (7-5) victory in more than two and a half hours against Tsitsipas.

However, Kyrgios doesn’t hold Tsitsipas’ outburst against him.

“I didn’t see it (incident). I don’t think he meant it as well. I don’t think you should be giving it too much attention or looking too far into it, to be honest,” Kyrgios said.

“I’ve done some stupid things as well in the heat of the moment, so it was obviously an accident.”

Tags:
tennis, ATP, Nick Kyrgios, Stefano Tsitsipas, tantrum