One of tennis's most promising young talents, the 19-year-old
Australian blamed Drake's music for a slow start against his
third-round opponent Jiri Vesely.
"Today was a bit of rap, actually," he told reporters at Wimbledon
after beating the Czech 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-2. "I came out really flat, so
hopefully I won't listen to that again. It was actually Drake. Yeah.
Didn't do the job for me."
Drake hit back at Kyrgios in a conference call with reporters last
week ahead of hosting 'The ESPYS', broadcaster ESPN's annual
sporting awards night on Wednesday.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Jul/15/images/ads/current/businesscardlookat.png) "I also want to meet this guy that says that he lost because he
listened to my music," U.S. entertainment media quoted the
27-year-old as saying.
"I also want to meet that guy and look him in the eye and see
exactly who he is as a man and size him up and then chop him right
down. Nick whatever-his-name-is — because he didn’t win, so that’s
how he’s going to be remembered: 'Nick whatever-his-name-is.'"
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Kyrgios, who took Wimbledon by storm by upsetting Rafa Nadal in the
fourth round, moved to defuse the tension on Twitter on Tuesday --
while also being clear about who won the match.
"Let's be clear. I like @Drake - love his music, just said I was a
little flat, ended up winning that match. No blame game here," he
tweeted.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Nick Mulvenney)
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