Nick Kyrgios took a cheeky shot at Iga Swiatek, sarcastically calling the Pole "a clean player" after she returned to play a ball that appeared to hit the surface twice before she hit it.
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On Sunday, the defending champion made light work of Dayana Yastremska 6-0 6-2 to progress into the Indian Wells round-of-16.
While there wasn't much drama in the match, there was one moment that caught the attention of fans. After one of Yastremska's drop shots, Swiatek rushed to the ball and returned it into play. After the point was replayed on TV screen, the commentator said on air: "No, it hit the ground first."
While the 46th-ranked Ukrainian won that point, some still weren't happy with the chair umpire or the second-seeded Pole, with some alleging that the five-time Grand Slam champion knew it hit the court twice but opted to stay silent.
Reacting to it, Kyrgios said: "Clean player (laughing emojis)."
Not the first time Kyrgios has called out Swiatek
Since the 23-year-old's doping case came to light in November, the Australian has taken several shots at the former world No. 1.
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At the start of the 2025 season, the 2022 Wimbledon finalist slammed Swiatek and Jannik Sinner's doping cases as disgusting. Also, he mocked the Polish tennis star for using "the victim card" after one of her interviews.
I had no idea what happened, at the beginning I didnt have a source right on. We had to send supplements to the labs and wait for the results. It was so chaotic," Swiatek said on Caroline Garcia's Tennis Insider Club in early 2025.
"I didnt know if it was going to be you know two years or three months or something else. It was really tough I dont want to go through this again.
After reading about it, Kyrgios wrote on X: "The old Im the victim card - this tennis world really controls the narrative - its a bad joke."
