Nick Kyrgios has labelled Australian swimming great Dawn
Fraser a racist after she suggested he should "go back to where [his]
parents came from" over accusations of tanking during his fourth-round
Wimbledon loss.
The Canberra-born Kyrgios, who is of Greek and Malaysian
heritage, made no effort to return serve in the third game of the second set of
his four-set loss to 21st seed Richard Gasquet on Monday night AEST.
Fraser, speaking to the Nine Network's Today Show, said she
found Kyrgios' behaviour "absolutely disgusting".
"I just am so shocked to think that he went out there
to play and he tanked, he did all that tanking, that's terrible," she
said.
Fraser also appeared to take aim at German-born Bernard
Tomic, who has come under fire this week after unleashing a tirade of abuse at
Tennis Australia, leading to him being axed from the Davis Cup team for the
upcoming quarter-final tie against Kazakhstan.
"They should be setting a better example for the
younger generation of this great country of ours," she said.
"If they don't like it, go back to where their parents
came from. We don't need them here in this country to act like that."
Kyrgios, who has been roundly criticised after each of his
four matches at SW19 for varying degrees of misbehaviour responded on Facebook,
calling Fraser a "blatant racist".
"Throwing a racket, brat. Debating the rules,
disrespectful. Frustrated when competing, spoilt. Showing emotion, arrogant.
Blatant racist, Australian legend," he wrote.
Fraser attempted to defend herself, telling Fairfax Media
her statement was misinterpreted.
"I'm not a racist person. If you take [my comments]
that way then I'm sorry that you take it that way, but I'm not racist at
all," she said.
"I said, 'If they don't want to be Australians then
maybe they should go back to the country where their parents come from'. That's
not being racist.
"I said they were not good Australians by behaving the way they are on court. Do you think they are? He's just bad mannered. He's just a bad sport."
"I said they were not good Australians by behaving the way they are on court. Do you think they are? He's just bad mannered. He's just a bad sport."
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