Nick Kyrgios cops backlash over 'embarrassing' response to Cruz Hewitt and Jannik Sinner photo

Nick Kyrgios has been slammed around the tennis world over what he claims was a 'joke' swipe at Lleyton Hewitt's teenage son Cruz. The 16-year-old Cruz Hewitt will attempt to qualify for the Australian Open this week after being granted a wildcard into the qualifying tournament.

Over the weekend he was spotted having a hit with World No.1 Jannik Sinner on Rod Laver Arena, and posed for photos with the Italian star afterwards. But Cruz's move with Sinner hasn't gone down well with Kyrgios, who took a swipe at the younger Hewitt in a series of comments on social media.

Kyrgios wrote: “Love ya Cruz but this is wild”, labelling it a “cooked post” from the Australian Open's official account. He also told Cruz: “Thought we were boys”.

Why Nick Kyrgios isn't happy about Cruz Hewitt photo

Kyrgios' response comes hot on the heels of his outrage over recent doping scandals involving World No.1 players Sinner and Iga Swiatek. Sinner twice tested positive for an anabolic steroid in March last year, but avoided a ban because the ITIA determined he was not to blame for the substance entering his system.

And Swiatek only copped a one-month suspension in November after testing positive to the banned substance trimetazidine. Kyrgios recently lashed out and labelled their conduct as "disgusting for our sport".

He said at the Brisbane International: "It's a horrible look. Tennis integrity right now, and everyone knows it, but no one wants to speak about it, it's awful. I would never even in my entire life ever try and dope in this sport.

"Especially going through an injury like I went through, obviously there are things out there that could speed up healing, help me get back to prime level, help my recovery. There's so many things out there that are prohibited in our sport that I could have been doing to get me back quicker ... (but) that's just not who I am. I'm always against that.

"So for me when people are saying that I'm disrespectful to the sport, I think someone like that that has tried to cheat the process, and actually not done it completely on their own merit, is the disrespectful one in my opinion. I have to be outspoken about it because I don't think there's enough people that are speaking about it. I think people are trying to sweep it under the rug."

Kyrgios clearly thinks Hewitt shouldn't be mingling with and idolising Sinner, although he responded to one fan on social media by claiming he was joking. Leading tennis reporter Bastien Fachan said in regard to Kyrgios' comments: “16-year-old Cruz Hewitt posts picture of him training with Jannik Sinner on Rod Laver Arena … 29-year-old Nick Kyrgios immediately spams it with disparaging comments and needle emojis. This is way over the line, and it’s time the tennis world calls out his harassment campaign.”

Nick Kyrgios questions Jannik Sinner's story

Others labelled Kyrgios' comments "embarrassing" and "pathetic". Sinner managed to avoid a ban because he successfully argued his physiotherapist had accidentally contaminated him during a massage. The physio had clostebol (the banned steroid) on his own hand when he massaged Sinner without gloves on, and it entered Sinner's blood stream via an open wound on his back.

Kyrgios said: "I (pay) my team hundreds and thousands of dollars to be the professionals they are, to make sure that doesn't happen. So they knew it happened. Why did they wait five to six months to do anything about it? He kept his team for five months ... that doesn't make sense.

"I'd be livid. If my physiotherapist contaminated me, put me in this position, I would probably never talk to the guy again. He had the guy on his team for five months, acting like nothing happened."

with AAP