Tennis Fans Appalled to See Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios Together in Glitzy US Open News With Coco Gauff, Ben Shelton, and Others

With each passing day, the 2024 US Open is fast approaching. One of the most exciting tennis events on the calendar, the year-end Grand Slam tournament promises many thrills and chills. The US Open is marked with many sequential events in the lead-up to the tournament like the US Open Block Party and the Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day. One such event among these is the US Open Mixed Madness.

The Mixed Madness event will make its debut in the fan week and boasts some exciting talents pairing up before the grand tournament gets underway. A surprise entrants at this event were Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios, who caught the tennis world’s attention with their pairing.

Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios to team up for the US Open Mixed Madness

Recently, the teams for the premier edition of the Mixed Madness were announced. The event, which will take place on August 20, will feature four teams boasting of star-studded talents. The all-American team included Coco Gauff and Ben Shelton, while power couple, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa made the other team. The third team had Aryna Sabalenka pairing up with Taylor Fritz. However, much to the fans’ surprise, Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios made the fourth team.

While Osaka made a comeback earlier this season, Kyrgios has been completely off the court. He is yet to feature this year, with injuries taking a toll on his career. Kyrgios’ last appearance was in Stuttgart last year where he lost the opening round. As a result, fans couldn’t believe when Kyrgios’ name was announced with Osaka.

Fans react as Nick Kyrgios makes for a surprise inclusion along with Naomi Osaka

The news about Kyrgios’ potential comeback, albeit in an exhibition event, spread like wildfire on social media. It invited thousands of reactions from across the tennis world, with the common sentiment being that the fans were surprised to see Kyrgios in the lineup. One of the fans on Twitter couldn’t believe her eyes and questioned sarcastically, “Naomi is playing with who?” Similarly, another fan questioned Osaka’s decision to pair up with Kyrgios.

Meanwhile, Osaka and Kyrgios are known to be good friends and have also practiced together on multiple occasions. Despite this, one Twitter user shared a post in which Kyrgios was asked to ‘stay away’ from Osaka and to ‘get a job.’

Meanwhile, a section of fans weren’t happy with the Japanese star teaming up with Kyrgios. The latter doesn’t have the best reputation on the court and is often a subject of controversy. Thus, one fan questioned Osaka, saying, “ummmmm more importantly naomi with that man????”

Osaka has struggled to fill her engines with steam for her comeback after becoming a mom last year, but her last display against Iga Swiatek in the French Open was much lauded. But Nick Kyrgios has been way behind the 4x Grand Slam winner.

Lastly, one of the fans also thought that Kyrgios’ influence might have a negative impact on Osaka. The comment read, “well is this the time when naomi will start catching heat for associating with that man or?”

Kyrgios and Osaka have long been friends off the court, with the Japanese’s company being associated with the Australian’s podcast, Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios.

While Kyrgios will play at the exhibition event, it is still unclear if he intends to make a comeback in full capacity. Nonetheless, it promises to be an exciting time for neutral tennis fans, as the Mixed Madness event promises to have a lot of madness indeed.