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Lewis Hamilton Joins Maria Sakkari & Coco Gauff to Support Giannis Antetokounmpo After He Lashed Out at Reporter Over “Failure” Jibe

Published 04/28/2023, 7:00 AM EDT

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The players and coach of the Milwaukee Bucks have recently come under heavy fire. The media bombarded them with some tough questions after they crashed out of playoffs following the defeat at the hands of the Miami Heat. Tired of the constant attack, their star player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, hit back with an epic reply. Until now, American tennis sensation, Coco Gauff, and his fellow Greek and Tennis ace, Maria Sakkari had come to his support. The latest to join the brigade is none other than F1 heartthrob Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton, currently, isn’t going through the best of times on the race track himself. His team is struggling to cope with the new regulations that the FIA introduced last year. Resultantly, the Briton, for the first time in his entire F1 career, went a full season without a race win. The current season did not have a great start either.

Lewis Hamilton lends his support for “Greek Freak” Giannis Antetokounmpo

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Hamilton’s continued bad run has seen him take some tough, some ridiculous questions himself. From speculations over him contemplating retirement to switching teams, the Mercedes ace has issued clarifications on all rumors in the last few days. The Stevenage man recently shared a snippet from Giannis’ viral press conference on Instagram. Could it be an indication to the F1 journalists?

via Reuters

Lewis shared the clip from SportsCenter where Eric Nehm, a reporter for The Athletic, asked him if he considered the season a “failure”. Giannis answered, “It’s not a failure. It’s steps to success.”

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“Michael Jordan played 15 years, won six championships. The other nine years was a failure?”

“There’s no failure in sports. You know, there’s good days, bad days. Some days you are able to be successful. Some days you are not. Some days it’s your turn, some days it’s not your turn. And that’s what sports is about. You don’t always win.”

Sakkari too recently talked about his comments and urged non-sportspersons to understand their plight.

What Maria Sakkari and Coco Gauff had to say about Antetokounmpo’s comments

The 19-year-old American recalled her last year’s finals defeat against Iga Swiatek. She revealed how it took her a long time to recover from the defeat. However, she later realized that it was actually a successful tournament for her. Maria too talked about how tough tennis is, a fact that Giannis agrees to.

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via Reuters

Speaking after making the third round of the Madrid Open, she said, “He has spoken to me about how tough our sport is. Tennis is a sport where we lose every week and you have to go again and erase it and go again from zero.”

“Maybe it’s a wake-up call for everyone outside of sports to understand what it means when you lose or when you don’t achieve your goals. It’s not the end of the world.”

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Watch This Story: Will Lewis Hamilton Consider a Move to Ferrari if Mercedes Doesn’t Deliver?

Reporters certainly need to be sensitized about the toll a defeat takes on a sportsperson. To answer poking questions after that definitely adds to the mental agony they are already going through.

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Written by:

Nischay Rathore

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Nischay Rathore is a senior Formula 1 writer at EssentiallySports with an impressive portfolio of over 850 published articles. With a keen eye for sports and a passion for Formula 1, soccer, and tennis Nischay has embarked on a journey in sports journalism. As a long-time Formula 1 fan, Nischay enjoys reflecting on races from the sport’s past.
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Edited by:

Varunkumaar Chelladurai