‘It happened accidentally,’ says Tsitsipas after racket swipe hurts dad

Stefanos Tsitsipas said he did not mean to hit his father and coach Apostolos with a racket swipe in a mid-match fit of rage during Tuesday's ATP Cup loss to Australia's Nick Kyrgios.

The Greek 21-year-old, ranked sixth in the world, lost 7-6(7) 6-7(3) 7-6(5) and took out his frustration after losing the opening set tiebreak with two racket swipes near the team bench, the second of which bruised his father's arm.

Apostolos immediately got up from his chair in shock and went up to the stands to sit with the rest of the Greek team while Tsitsipas, who was docked a point and warned by the umpire, received an earful from his mother Julia Apostoli.

"It happened accidentally, I didn't mean to do it and straight away forgot about it and moved on from there," Tsitsipas told reporters. "It happens, I wasn't aiming to do that. It just went out of control, unfortunately.<...