Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland in action against Borna Coric of Croatia during their second round match at the Western & Southern Open at the Linder Family Tennis Center in Mason, near Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 19 August 2015.
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“For sure I was struggling in the game to be completely on the court and to fight the way I wanted”.
However, Wawrinka said the 20-year-old’s apology did not go far enough.
“For the past few days for sure my head was not really into the tennis“, Wawrinka told Sky Sports television after his 3-6 7-6(3) 6-3 win over Croatian teen Coric. Wawrinka produced 40 winners and 52 unforced errors as he moved into the third round against another Croatian, Ivo Karlovic.
His comments follow Wawrinka’s accusations that Kyrgios failed to properly apologise for his remarks about Kokkinakis and WTA pro Donna Vekic which prompted widespread revulsion. The comment, which Wawrinka didn’t hear immediately but was captured on TV, immediately drew the ire of the tennis world.
Top seed Djokovic cruised through his opener against Benoit Paire, beating the Frenchman 7-5 6-2 to set up a third-round clash with Belgian 13th seed David Goffin.
And asked if he was happy that Kyrgios had done what he should have done in the circumstances afterwards and apologised to all the people involved in the matter, he replied: “Uh, he didn’t apologise, so no. But I prefer not to talk about him thank you”. The Serb has played and lost four finalist here without winning a set it is the only Masters 1000 title he has not won. That was the last break point Coric would see.
Wawrinka broke Coric in the sixth game of the deciding set to seize control and served out the remainder of the set to advance. Two points later, Coric sent a forehand shot long past the baseline to give Wawrinka a 4-2 lead and the edge he needed.
All these players are trying to find that mindset for preparation for a Grand Slam, and Wawrinka admitted that things are not as simple, and as a result he had found it hard to be in the moment on court. I know how I deal with everything.
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“I am not trying to take any more attention away from the matches in Cincy, but I have been reading reports that I did not apologise for my comments, which is untrue”, Kyrgios said on social media. “It was really important to win this match today”.
