Nick Kyrgios has clarified that he was not racially abused by the Wimblecon Court 3 crowd on Tuesday despite ranting about racist abuse to the umpire during his first-round match. The Aussie downed British wildcard Paul Jubb in five sets over three hours and explained why he brought up the issue during his on-court tirade.

Kyrgios complained to the umpire about certain spectators in the Court 3 crowd who were harrassing him during his five-set match against the British wildcard on Tuesday. During his rant he said: “So pure disrespect from a spectator to an athlete is acceptable at Wimbledon? But you don’t accept a hat with two logos? When’s the line? That’s acceptable, racism is acceptable so when does it stop? So where’s the line? It’s been happening for years. If they were making racial slurs to him [Jubb] I would say the same thing.”

But the world No 40 later confirmed he was not racially abused by any members of the crowd during the match, and instead was making a general point. Asked outright whether he was racially abused on court he said: “Not today, no, no. But a lot of disrespect was being thrown today from the crowds. I’m just starting to think that it’s normal when it’s really not. You know, I didn’t say anything to the crowd until they started just every time I came down to the far end, people just going. It’s just I don’t know if it’s normal or not.”

It comes after the 27-year-old claimed some fans hurled racist abuse at him during the recent Stuttgart Open, with the tournament later confirming they were investigating the incident. 

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The former quarter-finalist at SW19 was then asked about his experience in Stuttgart and said: “It just happened, like, obviously when it happened in Stuttgart, the racial abuse, and then it happened to Osaka in Indian Wells where someone screamed out, affected her match. I just don’t understand why spectators feel like they’re able to do that.”

Kyrgios refused to explain exactly what was said to him in Stuttgart but shared some of the abuse he received in his Wimbledon match. “Just pure disrespect, just anything. Like someone just yelled out I was s*** in the crowd today. Is that normal? No,” he continued. “But I just don’t understand why it’s happening over and over again.”

But he was quick to clarify that he didn’t blame the tournament for the issues he had experienced both today and in the past, adding: “I love this tournament. It’s got nothing to do with Wimbledon. I just think it’s a whole generation of people like on social media feeling like they have a right to comment on every single thing with negativity. It just carries on to real life. Because there’s a fence there, and I physically can’t do anything or say anything because I’ll get in trouble. They just feel the need that they’re just able to say anything they want.”

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