I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love Nick Kyrgios.
Now, before you take up your torches and pitchforks and start harassing my children on Instagram, let’s be honest for a minute.
Just a minute, mind. I quite understand that for the sporting public to be honest for an extended period of time about the fact that they possess a deep psychological need for badly-behaved sportspeople, and that without them their enjoyment of their chosen sport would be deeply diminished, as much of their pleasure derives directly from a feeling of moral superiority, would mean the complete dismantling of the emotional architecture of sporting fandom and the destruction of our longstanding way of life.
But let’s be honest for a minute: don’t you love him just a little bit too?
Don’t you love a guy who so nakedly displays, mid-match, the bleeding obvious: that professional tennis is stupidly difficult and incredibly tiring and the longer you stay out on the court the more annoyed you’re going to get?
Don’t you love a guy who faces the media pack and refuses to pretend he doesn’t hate every one of their guts? Don’t you love a guy who is as willing to tell you how much he hates his job as any one of your friends, defying the unjust convention that just because your job takes place on a tennis court in front of a global audience of millions, you have to act like you love going to work?
Most people who actually like their jobs are morons anyway – and if you love your job even while crashing to embarrassing defeats at your home grand slam tournament, you may be somewhat detached from reality.
I mean, you can say, “Oh god, I am so fed up with these spoilt tennis brats and their appalling behaviour” as much as you like: but if you were really the type to be “fed up” with this sort of thing, you’d have abandoned all interest in tennis six months into John McEnroe’s first season.
McEnroe himself, of course, has carved out a lucrative career publicly castigating anyone who acts like John McEnroe, and good luck to him – his words could never be as newsworthy if they weren’t so hypocritical, and he’s to be congratulated for playing the long game.
But come on, when McEnroe was playing, it was brilliant to have him around, effing and blinding and undermining the authority of match officials and mistreating his racquet. Not that you wanted every player to be like McEnroe, but you wanted one or two about the place.
How else would you gauge the grace and dignity of all the others? More importantly, how else would you determine your own inner goodness?
We take more from our tennis brats than we ever could from our tennis saints. All Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal have ever done, besides thrill us with the preternatural mastery of the art of tennis, is make us feel hopelessly inadequate. It’s not enough that they remind us of how physically uncoordinated we are, they have to go and exceed all our expectations for charm and decency as well.
Now, your Nick Kyrgios, your John McEnroe, and to a lesser extent your Bernard Tomic: they’re a different breed.
When we watch them play, we still know that we could never in a million years match them for athletic ability or hand-eye coordination, but there’s immense consolation in the knowledge that were we out on court – even with our utter ineptitude – we would be behaving in a much more mature and generous manner, towards opponents, officials, ballboys, spectators and press.
We are better people than Nick Kyrgios, and if it weren’t for Nick Kyrgios, we would never know that. Think of him as your racist grandfather: if he wasn’t at Christmas lunch, you’d spend the whole day worrying that you were the most racist member of the family.
In Freudian terms, Kyrgios is the id of tennis, just as Federer is the superego, and the ego is probably someone dull like Andy Murray. But you need all of them to make up a healthy psyche. Thank God for Nick Kyrgios – without him tennis would truly lose its mind.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
"All Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal have ever done, besides thrill us with the preternatural mastery of the art of tennis, is make us feel hopelessly inadequate. It’s not enough that they remind us of how physically uncoordinated we are, they have to go and exceed all our expectations for charm and decency as well." - Wonderfully put. I wont get into the Kyrgios debate because I have written so many pieces on Roar about him, and given his attitude (but not his foul mouth) after the Basketball fiasco has changed a bit for the better, he deserves a break :)
Bee bee
Guest
Ha ha. A potent mix. The likes of not seen since uranium met Einstein.
Mitcher
Guest
"He’s an individual representing an individual in an individual sport." Exactly. Amazing how many people fail to grasp this.
Basil
Guest
for crying out loud, it was 10-8 in the fifth and the haters accuse him of tanking it! I think this just reflects these modern times, bullying, cyberbullying, vilifying others seems to be the means by which people are able to feel better about themselves!
Knoxy
Guest
I'm trying to imagine the hissy fit Kyrios would have if someone threw a beach ball on the court whilst he was serving.
Tristan Rayner
Editor
Ah Ben, another cracker.
Bee bee
Guest
You would have him beaten with a whip and you are calling him an embarrassment. He didn't play tennis the way you want him to. It hardly requires the use of a whip.
Mick_Lions
Roar Pro
Nope, but someone else paid for the racquet! lol And YouTube may have paid for the recording, if they'd existed. Nicks definitely making other people money with his antics. He's on every forum, sports page and social media platform. Along with tonnes of ads.
Terry young
Guest
and I get your point I really do.. when nick wants to play he's the ultimate showman I love how he plays and I still want to support his career but it's hard to do when you dont know if he actually appreciates the millions of Aussies who would love to see him be a champion or to atleast fight. Aussies don't only love champions they also love and respect people with abit of heart.. So I don't think it's a tall poppy thing with nick I think it's frustration more than anything...
Bring Back...?
Guest
Agree Terry, there is no relevant comparison between McEnroe and Kyrgios. I'd actually love to see McEnroe coach Kyrgios....and Kyrgios would be a fool not to accept it.
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
Thats fair... I get your point there. MCEnroe and Kyrgios behaviour is imiliar, but Nick barly tries in most of his matches but does do a lot of shomanship, which makes it interesting. WWE inspired Tennis if you will!
Terry young
Guest
I get what your saying mate.. but I wasn't witchunting nick he can do what he likes with his life I already know that I'd never pay to watch a match of his because of the fact that he could tank a match depending on his mood on the day.. in saying that I have played tennis my whole life and tried very hard to be better and obviously don't have the natural ability, skill and talent that nick does but God I wish I did.. my original comment was at the editor of the article who put kyrgios in the same boat as mcenroe and called him a hypocrite for commenting about nick... that's my beef..
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
Theres not many, but what Nick does with his talent is up to Nick... Fustrating yes, but you can't say you have made 100% of your potential with every single bit of your talent. Nicks just naturally talented and he will probably regret, but I don't get the whole witch hunt and un-Australian calls and people hating him over it.
Terry young
Guest
but Vincent name me another Australian tennis player who has or had the talent of kyrgios and underperforms? If anything Australian tennis players have traditionally been tough competitors even Todd Woodbridge who had a cream puff serve.. His own words btw made it to a Wimbledon semi final because of hard work and persistence.. Kyrgios former coach Josh eagle has stated that nick wouldn't even train for 15 mins a day . btw you can't say Bernard tomic because I put him in with kyrgios lol..
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
Tonnes of sports people underperform yet stay on.
Terry young
Guest
Bee Bee.. The difference is if you hate your job and underperform ud be sacked..
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
You buy tickets to watch Nick, who is a serial tanker, and then get annoyed for losing your hardearned by watching a serial tanker tank. Well thats your fault not his.. He's a pretty honest person, no matter how much of a twat he is, so you should know what you are going to expect.
Bee bee
Guest
Lots of people hate their jobs but still do them.
northerner
Guest
Was anyone paying money to see you play?
northerner
Guest
Whether he's trying or not is not part of it. He's under an obligation to perform to his best ability. I'm inclined to think that it's more than time he started losing his winnings every time he tanks. Maybe then it wouldn't be quite such a joke for him.