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Karl Stefanovic's mortifying girlfriend gaffe in Nick Kyrgios interview

Karl Stefanovic, pictured here asking Nick Kyrgios about the wrong girlfriend.
Karl Stefanovic asked Nick Kyrgios about his ex-girlfriend. Image: Today Show/Instagram

Things got a bit awkward for Karl Stefanovic after he asked Nick Kyrgios about his ex-girlfriend rather than his current one in an interview on the Today Show on Thursday morning.

Kyrgios joined the Today Show to discuss his recent decision to withdraw from the US Open, but Stefanovic also wanted to know what was happening in his personal life.

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Asking Kyrgios about his girlfriend, Stefanovic said “How is Anna?”.

A pretty innocent question - except for the fact that Kyrgios and Anna Kalinskaya broke up last month and he’s since moved on with Chiara Passari.

“Seems like someone else is making you happy. How are things - can I ask how are things with Anna? Is it all cool?” Stefanovic asked.

To which Kyrgios replied: “Oh, geez! No, I've actually got a new girlfriend, mate.”

Stefanovic’s co-host Alison Langdon burst into laughter after a photo of Kyrgios and Passari flashed on the screen, saying: “It was right the pictures, wrong name.”

Kyrgios: “You've just thrown me under the bus on live television You absolute potato.”

Stefanovic: “Who is the new girl? Tell us all about it.”

Kyrgios: “Her name is Chiara. You’d love her, mate. Don’t get too jealous. Incredibly happy obviously this time. It has been awesome just spending time with my family. I haven't seen them in a while. It is good seeing them. My sister is back home as well and I had a lot of things I had to change the last couple of months. It's all going on track and obviously lucky enough to have met her and she makes me incredibly happy. Moving forward, I'm happy with her.”

Stefanovic: “I'll MC your wedding with her.”

After the interview wrapped up and Kyrgios had gone, Langdon told Stefanovic: “Can't believe you got the wrong name.”

Nick Kyrgios unlikely to play French Open

Kyrgios also opened up about his decision to skip the US Open, saying it was an easy decision.

“Obviously with everything going on over in the States at the moment, obviously with COVID but I mean even with the movement and you know the whole protest and all that type of stuff going on over there, I don't think at the moment it is the correct time to go ahead with sport in my opinion,” he said.

“But obviously with safety issues it wasn't too hard of a decision for me to stay home during this time and I'm continually training but also just staying home with my family and friends, making sure everyone is safe.

“I think the effort that Australia's gone to, to originally have gone to zero restrictions around Australia, obviously now it is starting to inflate again but hopefully we can get back on track and have no restrictions.”

The Aussie star also revealed he’s highly unlikely to play the French Open as well.

Nick Kyrgios, pictured here in action at the Mexico Open in February.
Nick Kyrgios in action at the Mexico Open in February. (Photo by PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images)

“It is a very slim chance I'll play in Europe. Almost slim to none to be honest,” he said.

“I think I'm going to use this time to stay home. I'm going to respect everyone that's really tried to do no wrong during this time, tried to isolate themselves, trying to make sure no one else gets sick during this time.

“So I'm going to use this to say home, train, be with my family, be with my friends and I'm going to act responsibly and wait until I think there's better circumstances to play.”

Rafael Nadal became the latest high-profile star to withdraw from the US Open on Wednesday, joining Kyrgios and Ash Barty.

Nadal's decision not to defend his title in New York means both he and Roger Federer, who is rehabilitating from knee surgery, will be absent from the same slam for the first time in 21 years.

World No.9 Gael Monfils, 11th-ranked Fabio Fognini, 2016 champion Stan Wawrinka, fellow European stars Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and Lucas Pouille were other notable omissions from the singles entry list released.

with AAP