Australian Olympic swimming legend Dawn Fraser apologized for racially charged comments made about tennis player Nick Kyrgios.
Speaking on Australian TV, Fraser was quoted as saying that players such as Kyrgios needed to be better role models and "if they don't like it, they should go back to where their fathers, or where their parents came from."
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"I want to unreservedly apologize for any comments that I made this morning which may have caused offense to my fellow Australians including Nick and his family," Fraser said in a statement Tuesday.
Kyrgios, who is of Greek and Malaysian descent, bowed out of Wimbledon in the fourth round Monday, with his behavior called into question after he appeared to give up in one game during the four-set loss to Richard Gasquet.
The Australian blamed his disasterous berformance on what he described as "external bulls—." which is certainly one way to describe his Wimbledon performance.
Both on and off the court, was entertaining, for the wrong reasons. He became so frustrated with his play that after a brief respite of hope, he grabbed ahold of a ballboy and hugged him.
Kyrgios hugging the ballboy. And the ballboy's reaction is just PERFECT. pic.twitter.com/taPEwvrOrR
— René Denfeld (@Renestance) July 6, 2015Fraser conceded that, while her comments had been taken out of context, she agreed they were in bad taste.
"However this does not condone what was said," she added. "My intended message, which was not delivered as articulately as it could have been, was on a purely sporting level rather than meant as an attack on Nick's ethnicity.
"Australians have a rich sporting heritage made up of individuals from a variety of different countries of origin. Nick's representing Australia and I want to see him representing Australian tennis in the best possible light."
Kyrgios called Fraser a "blatant racist" in response to the four-time Olympic gold medalist's comments.
Troy Machir contributed to this story