Nick Kyrgios’ eight-week suspension from the ATP for “perceived lack of effort” after the Shanghai Open last year, was followed immediately by a decision that attracted less attention at the time.
But now that decision has come to roost.
Kyrgios called up Richard Krajicek, former player and the tournament director of the Rotterdam Open (which started recently) in October last year, and informed him he would be pulling out of the tournament because he would rather play an NBA All-star celebrity basketball tournament.
Krajicek at the time said: “Kyrgios prefers his passion beyond his profession. We wanted to hold him to his contract. You see what can happen when he is tired and [tennis] has little meaning, as in China. We do not want that. So we decided to terminate his contract. We want a top tennis player seen on the court.”
That statement about Kyrgios preferring his passion beyond his profession is clearly an important one.
In an interview that Kyrgios gave to The Independent in 2015, he said: “I don’t really like the sport of tennis that much. I don’t love it.”
Later saying, “I just love basketball, I love the sport. I always have. I try when I’m on the road with tennis not to watch too many basketball videos and stuff like that, to keep me focused, but it’s tough.”
On The Roar, we have debated issues like the Nick Kyrgios attitude versus his ability, and the expectations of fans versus a player’s choices ad nauseum. So I won’t even go there.
It is worth thinking more about the personal dilemma many of us undoubtedly face at some point in our lives when we realise that we don’t really love our jobs and would rather be doing something else.
Do we then throw away what we have in pursuit of what we believe we would rather do?
Sure, the decision becomes a simpler one when you have $3.6 million AUD in prize money and your net worth is over $11 million AUD (as per the latest available estimates), as is the case with 22-year-old Nick.
A simpler decision yes, but is it the right one?
As Kyrgios found out this week, it is easy to fall in love, but that love may not always be reciprocated.
While Kyrgios prepared to travel to New Orleans for the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game 2017 at the superdome on February 17th, a rude shock awaited him. He wasn’t named in either side.
The game will include the likes of singers Andy Grammer, Kris Wu and Master P, and actors Tom Cavanagh, Jiang Jinfu, Hasan Minhaj and a few others.
But not Nick Kyrgios.
One presumes that Kyrgios had some discussions with ESPN and its anchors – a pair of whom picked the sides – before announcing his withdrawal so many months ahead of the Rotterdam Open, specifically citing his intention to play Basketball in New Orleans.
We know the best-laid plans often do come unstuck, and something, somewhere, clearly has gone wrong here.
While Kyrgios’ agent has been strangely silent on the issue (one can readily understand Kyrgios’ personal disappointment and reluctance to come out with an explanation), there can be only one reason for this rude awakening, and that is, the combination of Nick’s basketball skills and star appeal have possibly been found less stellar than he had assumed, by the powers that control selection for this event.
There is clearly a lesson in this for the young man.
Most of us lesser mortals go through life not necessarily doing what we dreamed we would do as kids.
The job we end up doing, is often a result of a concatenation of circumstances. And that is a valuable lesson.
Kyrgios is one of the most prodigiously talented tennis players of his generation, if not the foremost.
He may only like the sport he is so good at, while being in love with a sport that doesn’t appreciate his talent. And this might well be the defining moment in his life when he realizes it.
While we celebrate the revival of the Nadal-Federer rivalry and wait for Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray to reinvigorate their passion for winning, this fab four will soon leave a huge chasm for the next generation to fill.
Will this be Kyrgios’ eureka moment, when unrequited love brings him to the realisation that his future rests on a tennis court and not a parquet floor?
If it does, it will be a huge moment for the future of tennis.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
I would pay to watch Bolt at the BBL but no way would I pay to watch Nick play a league Basketball game (knowing it's not going to be the NBA)
BrainsTrust
Guest
Welcome to the past its already happened, Andrew Johns, and Bolt would be easily better than him. Cricket Australia would make Bolt the highest paid BBL player of all time without the slightest hesitation. However that amount of money would not be enough to tempt Bolt. Where did I say a NBA team would resort to the same gimmicks as the BBL. Unlike the BBL such things would never be possible in the NBA. I said a team in a lower level league but first Kyrgios would have to become more famous in tennis, at the moment he is not even famous enough to make the celebrity match. If Kyrgios won a few majors then possibly a local NBL team which was in financial trouble might use him for publicity.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
@locky666 - It's easier to believe this side of the story honestly. How can someone who keeps saying he doesn't love the game and was forced into it by his parents and wants to leave and play basketball, possibly convey any positivity to young kids who want to be Tennis players? Doesn't make sense.
Jeff dustby
Guest
There is no way bolt would qualify as a BBL cricketer - any position would be a gimmick The nba is one of the toughest leagues in the sporting world
locky666
Guest
From what iv'e heard, Kyrgios is having the opposite effect on young and impressionable tennis players. According to one tennis coach, a lot of boys are turning up for practice with the Kyrgios haircut(yuk), swearing, throwing rackets and generally having a bad attitude. I can understand this happening given all the really bad behaviour he has demonstrated since the beginning of his career. Now almost 22, not much has changed. Getting tired of the, oh, he's still young, give him a break, its hard being a tennis player on tour. That maybe so, but it does not excuse his bad attitude. Plenty of young tennis players that don't carry on like him. He needs to wake up and decide if he really wants to continue with his tennis career without all the drama or give the game away. I for do not support him, there are some really good young players on the circuit. Don't care that he's Australian. A lot of the Australian tennis fans are fast losing patience with him and you cant blame them. Wake up Kyrgios or move on. Time to grow up.
Sam Walker
Roar Guru
Are you talking about Arne Duncan Swampy? That guys is a fantastic player even more so for his age, he still goes to the local courts wherever he is and plays pick up (usually dominates them too). I get a feeling it is more a case of no one really wants to see him on the court, his image may not be what the NBA wants at it's all star weekend. They said no to JR Smith in the 3pt shootout last year just because of the image he portrays (despite being number 2 in 3pt%) Kyrigos could be in the same boat. I can't wait to watch Master P and Jason Williams take the court again. Master P was fairly good on a basketball court in the early 2000's and Williams is still a freak with the ball.
Swampy
Guest
I'm suggesting kyrgios' camp would be so foolish to demand one potentially...
BrainsTrust
Guest
You can get into the Big Bash though from a celebrity game , Cricket Australia are desperate to get Usain Bolt and would be willng to offer him a lot of money as well. If Kyrgios became more famous in tennis while there is no way an NBa team or even a top level European team would be interested in him, a team that was desperate and needed someone to attract crowds would give him a go.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Nice one. Nick Kyrgios are you listening? :)
Tennis lover
Guest
On the good side, Nick seems to be fantastic with younger players and spends a lot of time with them. Hewitt says he's responsible for the rise of a lot of the next crop of Aussies and he seems to be in USA at present coaching. It's hard for us to guess what he needs but Agassi says more love, less hate and maybe draw a line (him and all of us) under everything so far. That's a big ask. And yes - just play the best tennis in the world instead of being afraid of losing/winning or whatever the complex problems are.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Fair enough that he is not happy. Not everyone is. But lets not pretend that he is, what he is not. 1) He has yelled at both fans and umpires. 2) I find it very difficult to feel sorry for a guy who said what he did to a guy like Stan Wawrinka, who is a genuinely nice guy from every account. But that was clearly not the point of my piece. 3) Notwithstanding how much one dislikes Kitty Chiller, the fact is that she did not get him thrown off the Olympic team or shatter his dream. Lets get this right. Because of the way he and Tomic had been behaving (including tanking a game against Fognini by holding the racquet the wrong way, way before the Shanghai Open happened) she asked him to explain his behaviour if he wanted to be selected for the Olympics. So he announced he didn't want to play the Olympics and pulled out. Then for the next two months he waged a Twitter war on her which reinforced all his behavioural problems. He is not a little kid any more. 22 is old enough to know what you are doing. He has every right to live his life the way he wants, but just because I love Tennis (I am sure as you passionately do given your handle) at this stage all I am hoping is that he realises this is what he is born to do, and do it better than anyone else in his generation. Thats an incredibly rare gift, as I hope someone somewhere will get into his head.
peeeko
Guest
there is no appearance money and the fact that Nick thought it was like an NBA trial is laughable
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
That's an interesting take Swampy. If you really want to play, and you have the money that he obviously does, not playing because of appearance money is like shooting yourself in the foot woudn't you say? But then he is Nick Kyrgios. Who knows how his mind works?
Tennis lover
Guest
It would be great if the guy could just be happy. Andre Agassi recognised exactly what is happening to Nick at present. He's not tanking, he's exhausted. He's not yelling at the fans and umpires, he's protesting about being looked at like a piece of valuable merchandise rather than a person. It is so lonely up there. All he wanted to do was play for Australia in the Olympics but Kitty Chiller killed that dream - as she killed the rest of the Olympics. Of course he can play top tennis. The attraction of basketball is that you can disappear in a team, but you try disappearing on a tennis court when it's just you, him, a crowd that keeps booing whatever you do, and a million viewers on TV. He didn't realise that he was signing up for that. If he could grow through that (if we'd let him) and get a hand up with his peers who think he's a really nice guy (all, that is, except Johnny Mack who is another story) then he could be happy and become the new Federer.
Swampy
Guest
He can play though. Half the celebs in the game are useless. I remember the Secretary of Education played a couple of years (obama's gym buddy) and despite being 50+ dominated. Kyrgios can play - there are a couple of YouTube vids about where he looks OK to the trained eye. Safe to say he has far more potential at this point in his life of being world no.1 in tennis than in basketball. It would be interesting to know exactly why he is not playing - I'd suspect it would mostly be due to not receiving an appearance fee.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Here is that article http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/newly-crowned-no1-reaps-reward-of-choosing-right-court-20130124-2d9r9.html
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
In a Jan 25, 2013 article in SMH, this is what he said to the interviewer QUOTE ''I guess I was around 13, 14, because you get injured a lot in basketball, I guess, and that was going to keep me out of tennis and I was a fair bit better at tennis, I thought, at the time,'' Kyrgios said. ''So I thought I'd just give everything, give all my dedication to that and see how it goes, and it's obviously paid off a fair bit.'' UNQUOTE Which is what is so interesting that he now believes he is good enough to play Pro Basketball (in Europe as pointed out by @BrainsTrust above) and believes he will be pretty much walk into one of those teams 5-years hence. I wonder what he is smoking? More importantly, I hope he stops.
Tigranes
Guest
Could he retire from tennis to focus on basketball? What was he like as a basketball player?
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
"The SYdney Kings invited Kyrgios to train with them before his supposed celebrity match. The reaction from Kyrgios management was to tell them to stop using Kyrgios for publicity." That's just plain bizarre! Unless of course he already knew by then that he hadn't been picked for the All Star game. Be that as it may, the guy is 22. He is perfectly entitled to retire at 27 as many tennis players have done in the past. But in those 5-years if he just concentrated on his tennis instead of building his profile "because of his antics , sledging and tanking.", imagine what he could achieve! The question is whether any life lessons are being learned here.
BrainsTrust
Guest
Kyrgios said he would retire at 27 and go play pro basketball in Europe. At least he didn't say the NBA, but the question is why did he say Europe. Leagues in Europe are of various standards, the best leagues in Europe are above the local NBL, and next best standard to the NBA. The SYdney Kings invited Kyrgios to train with them before his supposed celebrity match. The reaction from Kyrgios management was to tell them to stop using Kyrgios for publicity. So does he think he is too good for the NBL The reason you would think the NBA celebrity match has rejected him is not because he isn;t well known and certainly not his basketball ability , despite Kyrgios ranking he has a big profile because of his antics , sledging and tanking.