During his stellar career of world number one for 168 weeks, winning seven Slam singles, nine doubles, and a mixed, plus 77 ATP singles, McEnroe was arguably the worst-behaved tennis player ever.
This makes Kyrgios the Richard Cranium of world tennis.
He was well beaten 7-5 6-3 4-6 6-1 by Andy Murray in the first round of the US Open at Flushing Meadows.
But the sad fact is Nick Kyrgios is a rare and raw talent, very capable of winning Slam singles titles sooner rather than later.
Some of his ground strokes against Murray made the Scot blink. Not only did they leave his racquet like a bazooka, but his precision placement was breath-taking. Add his dynamic serve, and there’s a lot to like about Kyrgios’ tennis.
If only he can up the behaviour bar before his major sponsors pull the chain on him, and the ATP suspends him for six months or more, and heavily fine him.
Not like the recent Montreal Masters, where the ATP bashed Kyrgios with a wet lettuce leaf for his tasteless sledge to Stan Wawrinka.
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The ATP suspended a 28-day ban and a $35,000 fine, which will be invoked if Kyrgios transgresses again in the next six months.
During the Murray clash, Kyrgios was certainly no angel, slamming his racquet into the court and often cursing, but comparing him to past performances that almost made him a choir boy.
What was more interesting was watching the vastly different natures of Kyrgios and Murray.
Not only is Kyrgios explosive, but he’s the most vain player on the circuit, constantly checking himself out on the many television screens around centre court.
Murray is a top bloke, but sadly he’s had a charisma bypass which belies his talent. Every interview Murray looks as though he’s just woken up from a 36-hour sleep, his voice monotone and seemingly uninterested.
He’s far removed from that, and needs to upgrade his persona.
In the meantime Nick Kyrgios, don’t take a leaf out of John McEnroe’s CV that was “low lighted” at Stockholm in 1984 for slamming a ball out of the stadium, calling the central umpire a “jerk”, and smashing soft-drink cans off a sideline table.