“It’s the Beauty of the Sport”: Nick Kyrgios Disapproves Stefanos Tsitsipas’ Idea of Allowing on-Court Coaching On ATP Tour

Tennis is widely appreciated and followed by millions of fans across the globe for being one of the few sports where the player is alone and have to make his own decisions at the heat of the moment. Greek tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas had a different opinion over the sport’s individuality.

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The issue in discussion was about the on-court coaching received by players from their coaches. The women’s tour(WTA) made this official and scrapped off player penalties whenever they were seen receiving advise from their coaches during matches.

Coming to Tsitsipas, the Greek super star generally receives flak for receiving on-court coaching on several occasions during a matchup. In fact, he was given several warnings over the years for the same.

“Coaching on every point should be allowed” – Stefanos Tsitsipas

Now, sharing his opinion on twitter, this year’s French Open runner-up opined that on-court coaching should be made legal on the ATP tour.

“Coaching on every point should be allowed in tennis. The sport needs to embrace it. We’re probably one of the only global sports that doesn’t use coaching during the play” tweeted the Greek.

As expected, this tweet prompted mixed reactions from tennis fans as they began to take sides and shared their opinions over the same. Even fellow players opened up on the issue and one of them was Nick Kyrgios.

The Australian took a dig at Tsitsipas and said that on-court coaching was a terrible idea to implement in tennis. The duo, who gave fans a fun-filled match at the 2019 Citi Open, also played doubles together at the event.

Responding to Kyrgios’ comment, the Greek star said, “I’ll get you a coach, don’t worry about that”. 

Just when things appeared to go out of hand, Tsitsipas tried to justify the reason behind his opinion.

“I get your point but let me remind you that the majority of tennis coaches are actually coaching on court, despite the rules. Why should there be a punishment or penalty rule for a coach that feels the need to talk or give advice”, the Greek wrote.

Nick Kyrgios disapproves Tsitsipas’ opinion and wants tennis to be a level-playing field

A lot of tennis players have openly opposed on-court coaching. When asked about the same a couple of years ago, Swiss Maestro Roger Federer added that he would take coaching advice before a match and figure out the plan for himself on-court.

Kyrgios too, expressed the same view as he commented, “The beauty of tennis is to go out there alone!! Some people choose not to have a coach, some people can’t afford a coach. On the tennis court it’s a level playing field. I think it’s the beauty of the sport”. 

In reality, both the arguments stand true. While tennis should be an individual sport, there are numerous instances where coaches give advice to players despite the penalties.

With tennis being a conservative sport, it’s hard to see a change in their current stance over on-court coaching at the ATP level.

Also read: “I’ll Get You a Coach”: Stefanos Tsitsipas to Nick Kyrgios as He Says His Idea Is “Terrible”