As soon as the organizers of the first Grand Slam of the season announced that former world number one Novak Djokovic will play a training duel with Nick Kyrgios on the center court of Melbourne Park on Friday and that extra tickets will be sold for the match, the fans were suddenly on alert.
After the launch of the sale for a single price of 20 dollars, they literally flooded the website of the Ticketmaster server, where it was possible to buy a ticket for the match. All 14,820 seats were sold out in about 58 minutes.
Wow Nick Kyrgios is bad for the sport! Wow what a disgrace, a national embarrassment! How dare he sell out another stadium, the arrogance https://t.co/Sn37U2nAjv
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) January 10, 2023
Kyrgios used the huge interest in his match to take an ironic dig at his critics, who accuse him of not setting a good example for young players with his behavior and not doing tennis a good service in general.
A ticket sale for a practice?? Seriously? USO never charged for Rafa’s practice except for a free pass that you get from a website. Just utterly preposterous! https://t.co/h3i747TYVW
— Madel Suravilla (@madel_suravilla) January 9, 2023
“Wow, Nick Kyrgios is hurting the sport! Wow, such a shame, a shame of the nation! How could he afford to sell out another stadium, such arrogance,” wrote the Australian stormtrooper on his Twitter account.
Although the duel will only be a training one, it should have the same formalities as a classic Grand Slam match, including referees and ball collectors.
Both players will meet for the first time since last year’s Wimbledon final. While Djokovic celebrated his title at the Adelaide tournament at the weekend, Kyrgios last played in December’s exhibition in Dubai.
