The Miami Open’s feisty this year. A few days after Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas were entangled in some midmatch tennis toilet beef, Fernando Verdasco and Thanasi Kokkinakis generated some juicy dad beef.
In the third set of their third-round Miami Open match, the Spanish veteran and 21-year-old Australian got into an argument during a changeover. The feud started after Kokkinakis complained to the chair umpire about Verdasco’s “bullshit” and accused Verdasco of talking during his serve. Verdasco said he “didn’t mean to disturb him” and changed the subject to complain about how a man behind him, from Kokkinakis’s camp, was talking between his first and second serves. The two players sat down, continued sniping at each other, and hashed out the identity of Kokkinakis’s dad. Here’s the exchange, which was a bit anticlimactic:
Kokkinakis: It’s my dad—
Verdasco: Huh?
TK: It’s my dad, so it’s affecting me.
FV: No, it’s not your dad. It’s the guy on the left, that’s not your dad. He’s the one on the left with the hat. Sorry, that’s not your dad.
TK: Which hat, which hat, which hat, which hat?
FV [pointing]: The guy with the glasses?
TK: That’s my fucking dad.
FV: Oh that’s your dad? So, I’m sorry. I thought it was your coach.
Verdasco ended up winning in a third set tiebreak and beef-starved Nick Kyrgios, who won his third-round match today in straight sets, couldn’t help but take a nibble.