When Stan Wawrinka was drafted to replace Novak Djokovic on the Singapore Slammers in the IPTL, the media had a field day with the fact that Wawrinka would be forced to team up with Nick Kyrgios. This would mean the two rivals, who are tied together by their infamous Rogers Cup incident, would be forced to put aside their differences and be teammates.

Facing a potentially awkward situation, Kyrgios has said that he wants to put their differences behind them for the good of the team.

Uncomfortable Teammates

With the pair of forced to work together in the IPTL, Kyrgios and Wawrinka are in a situation where they have to be friendly. Kyrgios believes that the pair can put aside their differences for the good of the team.

Kyrgios has been the Slammers star so far. Photo: IPTL

“I think whatever has happened has happened. I think we’ve got one goal, he’s a great player and he’s obviously going to be the main guy for our team, so I’m going to do everything I can, whether that’s me being on the bench, you know doing whatever I can to warm him up or whatever. Here, I think we all want to win and hopefully we can put everything aside and just do that.”

Wawrinka has not gone on record commenting on his new teammate. He is expected to replace Kyrgios as the team’s main player, a fact which Kyrgios, publically at least, appears to be at ease with. Kyrgios is 9-6 across all three disciplines this year in the IPTL.

The Incident

Tensions have been high since an on-court incident in their second round match at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. With tensions running high, Kyrgios told Wawrinka that “Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend, sorry to tell you mate.” Kyrgios would be picked up on a microphone commenting about Wawrinka “banging eighteen-year-olds.” Kyrgios would go on to win the match when Wawrinka retired with a back injury.

Wawrinka during that fateful match. Photo: Paul Chiasson/AP

Things did not stop there. Wawrinka was openly critical of Kyrgios, calling for him to be punished by the ATP. Kyrgios claimed that his comments were in response to some insults levied towards him by Wawrinka in a previous match. Kyrgios was put on probation with a suspension and fine hanging over him should he get in trouble in the six months following the incident.

The pair have not spoken about the incident since.