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Dawn Fraser apologises for ‘racist’ criticism of Nick Kyrgios and Bernard

Accused of tanking in his fourth round loss to Richard Gasquet, Kyrgios avoided a fine. but he was fined $US9,500 ($A12,675) for unsportsmanlike conduct at the All England Club.

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Kyrgios has rarely been out of the headlines in London, from appearing to shout “dirty scum” at officials during his first round match while also bouncing his racquet into the ground and hitting fans.

In an interview on the morning TV show Today, Fraser was asked about Kyrgios and fellow tennis Australian star Bernard Tomic, both of whom are the sons of immigrants.

“The boys are behaving disgracefully as far as sportsmen are concerned, they’re not setting a good example for children that follow them”, she said.

“I don’t think people always appreciate how hard it is to grow up under the spotlight, how hard it is to have loads of people expecting you to be flawless from a young age”, said Murray.

During a bolshy post-match press conference, Kyrgios insisted he is “misunderstood” by the media and Murray believes the Australian needs time to settle down.

‘We don’t need them here in this country if they act like that.’.

“Nick’s representing Australia and I want to see him representing Australian tennis in the best possible light”, she added.

“It’s absolutely disgusting. I am so shocked to think that he went out there to play and he tanked… that’s bad”, the 77-year-old said. Debating the rules, disrespectful.

Kyrgios crashed out in the last 16 to Richard Gasquet on Monday and the youngster attracted attention again for his petulant antics during the contest.

She later “unreservedly apologised”, but this did not impress Christos Kyrgios, who said the apology “meant nothing”.

“There were a lot of ups and downs, I am raging”.

“It’s been tough for me waking up everyday with negative messages”, Kyrgios said.

However, Fraser issued a formal statement on Wednesday denying the racism charges and saying that her comments were not racist.

While it was pretty absurd to watch Kyrgios just stand there and let Gasquet’s serves fly by him, he did recover after that point, winning the third set and pushing Gasquet in the fourth before ultimately losing. “Showing emotion, arrogant. Blatant racist, Australian legend”, he wrote.

“Mate, Rafa (Rafael Nadal) and stuff play 30 seconds in between points every time and all I’m doing is putting my sock back on”.

Fraser, who once voiced support for some of the policies of notorious anti-immigration MP Pauline Hanson, later defended her controversial remarks, claiming: “I’m not a racist person”.

Kyrgios and 22-year-old Tomic, numbers 29 and 26 in the world, are Australia’s best hopes of ending a 13-year men’s singles grand slam title drought which goes back to Lleyton Hewitt’s 2002 Wimbledon triumph.

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“I wasn’t overly impressed with their attitude”.

Australia celebrates winning a point against Richard Gasquet of France during their singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon London Monday