The fallout Nick Kyrgios had with Drake after ‘flat’ Wimbledon performance in 2014

Nick Kyrgios blamed Drake for ‘flat’ start to his match at Wimbledon in 2014

In the third round, Kyrgios would come up against fellow wildcard Jiri Vesely, in what was a first-time meeting between the pair.

Despite it appearing to be a big opportunity for Kyrgios to continue his breakthrough run at Wimbledon, it was actually Vesely who won the first set.

Kyrgios did eventually end up coming through the match to beat Vesely, 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-2, to reach the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time.

When speaking to press after the match, Kyrgios was asked about his slow start to the match and also what he was listening to on his headphones while walking on to court.

This is where Kyrgios revealed that he was actually listening to Drake, joking that he wouldn’t be listening to him again after feeling ‘flat’.

“I came out really flat, so hopefully I won’t listen to that again,” Kyrgios said at the time. “It was actually Drake. Yeah. Didn’t do the job for me.”

Kyrgios certainly managed to find his mojo for his subsequent match, as he stunned Rafael Nadal to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

How did Drake hit back at Nick Kyrgios?

Although Kyrgios appeared to be making these comments about not listening to Drake’s music in gest, the Canadian superstar did not appear to take too kindly to them.

Reported from a conference call ahead of hosting the ESPYs award show, Drake hit back at Kyrgios after his defeat to Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

“I want to meet that guy and look him in the eye and see exactly who he is as a man and size him up and then chop him right down,” said Drake.

“Nick whatever-his-name-is, because he didn’t win, so that’s how he’s going to be remembered, ‘Nick whatever-his-name-is.'”

Rather than stoking the flame even further, Kyrgios took to social media to clarify that he was not blaming Drake for the way that he started his match against Vesely.

He wrote on X (known as Twitter at the time), “Let’s be clear. I like @Drake – love his music, just said I was a little flat, ended up winning that match. No blame game here.”

Drake did not publicly respond to Kyrgios, but there have been no signs of any bad blood between them ever since this interaction.

Kyrgios even recently invited Drake to play tennis with him, after images emerged of the Canadian playing the sport.