The ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami is in full swing and the stars are playing one thriller after another. The audience also heard a fierce battle of words between Thansasi Kokkinakis and Fernando Verdasco.
Unsightly scenes on the tennis court in Miami during the match between Federer-conqueror Kokkinakis and the hot-blooded Spaniard Verdasco. Verdasco felt disturbed by a spectator during his serve and barked back against the alleged troublemaker. Kokkinaki’s opponent did not like this kind of conversation and told the chair referee. When Verdasco defended himself and explained that he had only fought back, Kokkinakis intervened and said: “This is my father whom you addressed” Verdasco asserted that he did not know and did not mean Kokkinakis’ father and pointed to a gentleman in the ranks. Kokkinakis answered again – with a rough tone: “That’s my fucking father!”
Verdasco apologized and said that he did not want to disrespect Kokkinakis’ father.
From a sporting point of view, the Spaniard won the duel and just won 3:6, 6:4 and 7:6 (4).
The battle of words also attracted the attention of Australian Nick Kyrgios, who chirped about Verdasco via Twitter and expressed the wish that Kokkinakis would win the game, as Verdasco was a bad guy and probably frustrated, as he had not looked good against Australian players in the past.
Kyrgios erased the tweet a short time later and made a statement. As a reason for deleting the tweet, he stated that he wanted to say it to Verdasco’s face and did not want to attract even more attention.
In the other games it was comparatively quiet – but also with great and exciting tennis.
Borna Coric fought through Jack Sock in three sets and stands with the 5:7, 7:6 (4) and 6:3 victory in the next round. Another youngster in the person of Denis Shapovalov also fought a hard fight and kicked the American Sam Querrey out of the tournament.
In the duel between Kevin Anderson and Karen Khachanov, however, the experience prevailed and Anderson won 4:6, 6:2 and 6:3 the ticket to the quarter-finals.
The men’s single tableau in Miami