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Ah, the Australian Open. It’s one of the best times of the year – wall-to-wall tennis action. It really is my favourite individual sport. There’s only one downside, and that’s the inevitable slew of hot takes, which my boy Nick Kyrgios is usually stuck in the middle of.
This year is no different. Kyrgios crashed out in the second round on Wednesday night – certainly a bit earlier than you’d expect and disappointing given he was up two sets to none at one point.
He was visibly not having a great time on the court. Really though, on the Kyrgios-controversy-ometer, it was pretty mild.
Don’t tell that to social media though. The vitriol has begun in earnest and shows no sign of abating. It’s amazing what people are willing to say about a complete stranger these days – I mean, you know that’s going to be on the internet with your name next to it pretty much forever, right?
Has Kyrgios done some regrettable things? Yup. Has he done some really stupid things? Oh yeah. But here’s the thing – so have I. And if you’re being really honest with yourself, you’ll admit, just quietly to yourself, that so have you.
Kyrgios is 21 years old. I celebrated my 21st birthday by eating 21 different fast food burgers (sorry, Mum), then broke a light fixture (sorry, housemates). I’m relatively sure I did not brush my teeth after (sorry, Dad). Later that year, I set a microwave on fire (sorry again, housemates). I could go on – I really could.
So what’s the difference between you, me and Kyrgios? When we messed it up, it wasn’t national news and it certainly wasn’t broadcast to millions of people – the people that did know about it knew us, forgave us and probably laughed with us about it a few weeks later.
Not so for Nick – from the age of 18 he’s had a nation of more than 20 million people watching him like a hawk, his every flaw broadcast ad nauseam, criticised without end by all the far-too-precious and enormously dull pearl-clutchers of the world.
Do you reckon there’s any chance that if every less-than-spectacular moment of your life from ages 18 to 21 was recorded, reported, publicly dissected in the media, Google-able in an instant and living forever on YouTube, that there is any chance you’d be anything other than certifiably insane? I would be!
That’s exactly what Nick has been through and he’s No.13 in the world. Were you No.13 in the world at anything when you were 21? Aside from my prodigious ability to sleep through my alarm every morning without fail, I sure wasn’t. The day he turned 21, Roger Federer was No.14.
What has Nick actually done anyway? Cursed a few times? Got pissed off and acted out when under enormous pressure? Said something really, really stupid? Had some days when he just didn’t feel like putting in the effort? Had a crack at an umpire?
I’ve ticked every box on that list a dozen times over, but I don’t have a Wikipedia page where you and everyone else in the world can read about it.
Yes, we all love it when sports people and other celebrities create wonderful, respectable, media images with a perfect track record of behaviour, but here’s the thing – those are all lies, and if they’re not, then those people are probably horrendously boring.
Give Nick a break. He’s only human. So am I, and so are you. We were all young and stupid once – some of us still are and part of me hopes I always will be.
Life’s too short, let’s have some fun – tell me the dumbest thing you did when you were 21 in the comments. C’mon, it’s good for the soul, and I promise not to judge.
Then, for the rest of the day, the rest of your life, whenever you do something regrettable – try not to overthink it. Allow yourself to move on, laugh about it if you can. And when other people mess up, give them the common courtesy of letting them do the same.
Yes. Even Nick Kyrgios.