
Controversial tennis star Nick Kyrgios not part of BBC Wimbledon coverage
Controversial tennis star Nick Kyrgios has reportedly been dropped from BBC's Wimbledon coverage this year amid huge backlash after he assaulted his ex-girlfriend Chiara Passari.
The Australian star worked as a pundit for the broadcaster during last year's tournament, a decision which caused outrage after he admitted assaulting Passari during an incident in 2021.
Now according to the Telegraph, he will no longer be part of their coverage. However, a source close to Kyrgios claimed that he planned to enter the tournament this year - after missing the 2024 edition - and had never planned to be involved as a pundit.
That was before Kyrgios was ruled out of the competition due to injury after suffering a "small setback" in his recovery.
"Just wanted to give everyone a quick update," he said last week. "I've hit a small setback in my recovery and unfortunately won't make it back for grass this year. I know how much you've all been looking forward to seeing me out there, and I'm genuinely sorry to disappoint.
"This is just a bump in the road though, and I'm already working hard to get back stronger than ever. Thank you for all your continued support – it means everything to me. See you soon!"
The Telegraph's report also claimed Kyrgios would not appear as a pundit for ESPN's coverage of Wimbledon either.
Women's charities such as Reclaim These Streets and Women's Aid were among those who had deplored the decision to hire Kyrgios as a pundit after he previously shared posts from controversial internet personality Andrew Tate - who has come under fire for his misogynistic views.
and will bring you the very latest updates, pictures and video as soon as possible. Please check back regularly for updates on this developing story. Follow us on Google News , Flipboard Apple News Twitter Facebook or visit homepage.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Metro
an hour ago
- Metro
What to expect from Ronnie O'Sullivan this season - according to the Rocket
Ronnie O'Sullivan had a turbulent last season, taking time away from snooker as he tried to rediscover enjoyment in the game, so what can we expect from him in the coming campaign? Predicting the Rocket is notoriously difficult, but he has laid out a pretty clear plan for himself and it sounds like it will feature plenty of snooker. The second half of last season was extremely quiet for the 49-year-old, snapping his cue on an ill-fated visit to the Championship League in January and not playing again until the World Championship in April. After chatting to psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters, a two-year plan was put together to try and find form and pleasure from the game which he had lost. Speaking on the eve of the World Championship, O'Sullivan explained: 'I said I wanted to at least do two proper years. 'Put everything I was doing on the back burner. I don't feel like I have that luxury anymore to do other things and try and compete. 'I think I owe it to my career to focus just on playing for the next two years, at least, and just see if I can rediscover some decent form. Try and finish my carer on a good note and not how it's felt for the last three or four years. That's my main goal. 'If it doesn't go great here, at least I've got another three months to go back to the practice table and really try and start next season, build some momentum and rebuild, find some sort of game that can at least give me some enjoyment.' He confirmed that playing snooker would be strictly limited to competition, saying: 'There will be no more exhibitions or distractions off the table.' After a pretty comfortable first round win over Ali Carter, the Rocket also said that he no longer plans to dabble with different coaches, something he has done a lot over the years. 'There will be no more coaches onboard, it will be just me and Steve Peters, trying to help me be a bit more instinctive and just try and find my own way of playing,' he told TNT Sports after a 10-4 win. 'I will commit to two years, even if it is terrible, and will give everything to play in the tournaments, practice and rest and rediscover the shots I have lost. 'I just need to go back to my own way of playing, clear my head and not be too analytical and overthink things.' Victories over Pang Junxu and Si Jiahui followed, but that enjoyment O'Sullivan was searching for did not. After a 13-9 win over Si in the Sheffield quarter-finals, he told the BBC: 'I'm playing awful and the cue feels awful. It's the worst situation to be in as a snooker player. I'm still in so I'll keep punching away, keep trying.' His new cue was bothering him so much that O'Sullivan changed his ferrule and tip in the middle of his semi-final with eventual champion Zhao Xintong. It seemed a desperate move and it did not pay off, but the seven-time world champ was not exactly sure what the problem was after a 17-7 thrashing at the hands of the Cyclone. 'I'm at a loss to be honest with you,' he said. 'I have lost what I used to have. I'm so confused. It feels a struggle. 'I don't know if it was me, the cue, tip or the ferrule. I didn't know where the white ball was going.' On the one-sided result, he said: 'I wasn't surprised. I have been playing like that in practice. It's hard to get my head around. I can't even fix it, that's the problem, I don't know if I can fix it. 'I want to give it two years but if you play like that, it's pretty pointless. It's not good. 'I have been like that for four years, trying to grind it out. I haven't had a clue where the cue ball was going. I have been willing it in the hole. 'I don't know how to correct the fault. That is the worrying thing. I am so far away – I don't even know where to begin.' O'Sullivan then explained that he is leaving the UK to set up home in the Middle East, saying: 'There's going to be a few changes in my life so I'll see how that goes. I don't know. 'I think I'm going to be moving out of the UK this year, so I don't know how that's going to pan out to be honest with you. 'A new life, somewhere else. Still try and play snooker, but I don't know what the future looks like for me. 'I'll be moving away to the Middle East. We'll see how it goes. I might be back in six months, who knows?' And that's where we left the Rocket, with little update from him since, other than the launch of a YouTube channel. What is encouraging for his fans, though, is that the two-year plan seems to be getting off to a busy start as O'Sullivan's name is in the first three draws of the season. Shanghai Masters (Jul 28 – Aug 3) 29 Jul: Last 16 vs Barry Hawkins/Wu Yize Wuhan Open (Aug 24-30) 24 Aug: Round One vs Allan Taylor British Open (Sep 22-28) 22 Sep: Round One vs Sanderson Lam He has been known to pull out of events, so don't put the house on him playing in all three, but the Rocket is currently scheduled to compete in the Shanghai Masters, Wuhan Open and British Open. The draw is yet to be done for the Championship League, which starts later this month, so we will wait and see if he competes in Leicester for the first time since his cue-smashing trip there six months ago. The Saudi Arabia Masters is coming up in Jeddah in August and he will certainly be playing there given his ambassadorial role in the country. So there is little reason to doubt that the Rocket's two-year plan is still the direction of travel. The World Championship may have ended disappointingly, but he still reached the semi-final feeling awful about his game and his cue, so positives can be drawn. Much may depend on how often he can and will lean on Peters, who is clearly hugely important to his success. During his run in Sheffield he said: 'Steve's been amazing. I wouldn't have got through the first round without Steve so Steve's been incredible. 'If I could afford him I'd have him every day but obviously he's a busy man and I couldn't afford to have him full-time, so I try to time when I can have him. Obviously Sheffield is a big tournament so it's nice to have him around when this event's on.' More Trending If O'Sullivan gets the help he wants and is focussed on his 24-month schedule then there is every reason to believe that he will be back in the winners' circle soon enough. It was only two season's ago that he won five titles and his Class of 92 rivals, John Higgins and Mark Williams, showed that age is not the issue as they both lifted trophies last season. If we get what O'Sullivan has told us to expect, then we can look forward to the Rocket firing again soon enough. MORE: Aaron Hill loving Fergal O'Brien link-up as he sets sights on snooker's elite MORE: Snooker star Jackson Page begins very different job after landing huge 147 bonus MORE: Zak Surety on wild Crucible debut: They can't ever move from there – it's mad


Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
BBC is showing Bargain Hunt and Homes Under the Hammer repeats instead of Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter's doubles match... again
The BBC has been criticised for showing two-year-old repeats of Bargain Hunt and Homes Under the Hammer instead of Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter 's doubles match at Queen's. The British tennis pair played their quarter-final of the Queen's Club Championships earlier today, but the footage was not even available on the BBC website for the majority of the match. It comes after the corporation also failed to broadcast the British duo's opening round win against Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu on Monday. When their latest match began at noon today, BBC One had opted to show a two-year-old episodes of Homes Under The Hammer and Bargain Hunt, The Telegraph reported. Meanwhile BBC Two was showing Politics Live, providing reaction to the Government's spending review. Coverage for Raducanu and Boulkter's match eventually became available on the iPlayer deep into the second set. With just enough time for viewers to see the British pair lose in straight sets 6-2, 7-5. On Monday, the BBC had showed live coverage of British number 3 Sonay Kartal's win in the singles against Daria Kasatkina instead of the British pair's first round match. Kartal's match was also available on iPlayer with highlights of another match involving Brazilian player Beatriz Haddad Maia as she defeated Czech player Petra Kvitova. The Lawn Tennis Association, which hosts Queen's in Eastbourne, could not move the game to the main arena due to contractual obligations made with the Women's Tennis Association. The WTA mandates that four single matches are played on Centre Court each day, meaning there is no room for doubles matches to be played despite interest in the British pair. Their opening match was only featured briefly as part of the coverage on BBC Two before it returned to coverage of Kartal's match. The BBC previously told The Telegraph after the first round match: 'Our TV coverage at Queens covers one court with one feed and we were broadcasting GB's [Great Britain] Sonay Kartal's Centre Court singles match on BBC Two. 'We provided regular updates on Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter's doubles match on BBC Two and the BBC Sport website where fans can enjoy all the stories that define this historic tournament.'

South Wales Argus
3 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
Emma Raducanu keen to explore doubles partnership with Katie Boulter
The duo, who have been bestowed the portmanteau 'Boultercanu', earlier this week described the 'spontaneous' nature of their decision to pair up ahead of this tournament. After booking their place with a straight-sets opening victory over Wu Fang-Hsien and Jiang Xinyu on Monday, they faced a much tougher test in the top-seeded doubles pair. Emma Raducanu is keen to explore her doubles partnership with Katie Boulter (Jordan Pettitt/PA) 'Katie made me feel really comfortable out there over the two matches and I hope we can team up again soon,' said 2021 US Open winner and former British number one Raducanu, who next faces Slovakian Rebecca Sramkova in the last 16 of the singles on Thursday afternoon. 'Given the quick turnaround from clay to grass it's great to get some extra matchplay on grass. The atmosphere again was unreal.' This is the first time in 52 years that women's tennis has been hosted at Queen's. It was just the third doubles match in Raducanu's career and only the second time she paired up with Boulter. The two still looked to be ironing out the finer points of their partnership when they clashed rackets in the first game and were down a break early on before Kichenok and Routliffe claimed the first set with another break. Katie Boulter will start the action at Andy Murray Arena on Thursday (John Walton/PA) The Britons grew into the match more in the second set – amusingly interrupted for a moment so a security guard could rescue a bee that had wandered down the baseline – bouncing back from a 4-1 deficit to level and converting their first break point of the match en route. But they squandered an opportunity to turn the screw when they could not convert four break points in the next game, and – despite plenty of encouragement from the crowd – eventually fell to the favourites. Boulter opens the action at the larger Andy Murray Arena on Thursday morning at midday, when she faces fifth-seed Diana Shnaider. 'Me and Emma played some very good tennis over these two doubles matches and our level was really high,' she said. 'The support from the crowd was immense as well and we're really grateful that so many people came out to support us.' British qualifier Heather Watson's meeting with former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina immediately follows on the newly-renamed centre court before wild card Raducanu's clash with Sramkova. Sonay Kartal was beaten by Amanda Anisimova (Adam Davy/PA) Sonay Kartal's Queen's campaign came to an end after the British wild card was defeated 6-1 6-3 by eighth seed Amanda Anisimova. Kartal, who confirmed she plans to participate at next week's Nottingham Open, said: '(Anisimova) didn't do too much wrong in that one. You just take it on the chin. The good thing about the grass is we are a couple of days and we're back at it again.' The British number three had booked her place in the second round on Monday after beating world number 16 Daria Kasatkina for the biggest win of her career. British doubles specialist Olivia Nicholls and her partner, Slovakian Tereza Mihalikova, lost 7-6 (3) 7-6 (5) to third seeds Ellen Perez (Australia) and Shuai Zhang (China).