Nick Kyrigos’ repeated petulant antics, which included bouncing his racket in to the crowd and accusations of tanking, have sunk the Australian’s integrity levels to a new low.
The paltry fine of about £6000 pounds that Kyrigos received was a mere slap on the wrist out of his total prize money of £127,000 pounds and would hardly seem to act as a deterrent.
The lack of respect that Kyrigos appears to have for officialdom is becoming a real concern, coincidentally just as his ranking is starting to climb. These issues need to be addressed urgently by not only his coach and support crew, but also Tennis Australia.
With the game of tennis far more scrutinised now than in the era when John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors used to play, Kyrigos would be well advised to pull his head in and curb his boorish behaviour and abusive outbursts. Otherwise it’s only a matter of time before he will be fined heavily or possibly suspended.
For such a prodigious talent, it would be a real shame if Kyrgios’ tennis career starts to go off the rails with the world at his feet.
With not only Bernard Tomics’ reputation, but also Kyrigos’ in tatters the challenge that lies ahead for them will be to rebuild. It is something that they quite frankly don’t appear to be too perturbed about, which is a sad indictment on them not only as tennis players, but also as human beings.
Until Kyrigos can take a leaf out of a player such as Roger Federer’s book and keep his emotions in check and display good sportsmanship and humility in both victory and defeat, Kyrigos will only continue to polarise opinions among tennis fans in Australia.
Simoc
Guest
Obviously the author never watched Federer at the start of his career, and before him Bjorn Bjorg when the same things were said about them. Federer also appeared to give up when the games got tough eg 5 sets. So writer Kyrigos has set himself high standards if he can even partly match the records those two went onto. Its pretty cheap shot journalism to state the bleeding obvious without doing your homework first. Maybe as a jouno you have no integrity Gazbo.
Lazza
Guest
We have a proud history of brat tennis players. Leyton Hewitt and Pat Cash spring to mind and no one ever told them to go back to the land of their ancestors? Pat was an inarticulate buffoon who questioned the merits of women’s tennis when he began his career. Eventually, he grew up, matured and sounded like a different person when he spoke. Hopefully Nick will be the same.
Gremlins
Guest
Sorry, Steph, but if he's all we've got, then I'll go without until a real Australian player comes along. That is, someone from whatever ethnic background who understands respect and good manners and the art of winning and losing gracefully. Who knows how to represent me on an international stage. Who doesn't make me cringe in embarrassment at their purile antics. Maybe in a few years time, it might be Kyrgios and/or Tomic. Maybe not.
Steph
Guest
His quirky on court antics, colourful behaviour and natural abilities keep us on the edge of our seats and as a sport’s Publicist, I wouldn’t change a thing about Nick Kyrgios’ journey. I can accept that he doesn’t like tennis that much. He gets job done, and if you have ever had a job that you didn’t really love, maybe you can empathise. I don’t compare him to his mate Thanasi Kokkinakis. His humble, quiet and unassuming nature is delightful, but asking someone to look at others and replicate their personality seems so counter intuitive for success. He’s not rude to people on social media, it’s said he’s polite to fellow players and we know he’s reached out to others less fortunate than he (readers, I urge you to google the alopecia kid). While John McEnroe paved the way for abusing umpires, it’s something he can work on, and at least apologise for. So work on it Nick. We loved how Kim Sears brought a bit of spunk and personality to the Australian Open with her semi-finals swear rant, so I urge my fellow Aussies to find some room in our sport loving hearts to embrace the talent we have, warts and all. Cos at the moment, in men's tennis, he’s all we’ve bloody got!