Legends give Kyrgios a hurry up

FIRST it was John McEnroe and now Australian tennis greats John Newcombe and Lleyton Hewitt are giving Nick Kyrgios the hurry up.

McEnroe this week said he feared Kyrgios was going to “run himself out of the game” and urged the tempestuous talent to fully commit to the sport.

After gatecrashing the Wimbledon and Australian Open quarter-finals as a teenage excitement machine, Kyrgios hasn’t reached the last eight of any other majors in almost four years.

He is unlikely to be seeded at January’s Open after falling to No. 35 in the world and faces the prospect of dropping out of the top 50 if he doesn’t defend the mass rankings points accrued from winning the 2018 Brisbane International and then making the second week in Melbourne.

Hewitt isn’t giving up on Kyrgios, but wants to see the 23-year-old take a more professional approach.

“There’s still time, absolutely — but it goes quickly,” Hewitt said.

“It goes quickly and you get the next group of kids coming up as well and they’ll be challenging next and they’ll see (season-ending championship winner Alexander) Zverev now is on the plate.

“Two years ago, Nick was probably ahead of Zverev in terms of what a lot of people thought his potential was.

“Zverev’s done absolutely everything right. He is the ultimate professional and he has been from day dot from when I’ve seen him around on the tour.”

Hewitt welcomed Kyrgios’s decision to seek professional help for his mental demons.

Newcombe agrees the key for a Kyrgios revival is getting his body in tip-top condition.

“If he got himself into 100 per cent physical shape, he’d stop getting all the niggling injuries. That would be a big step forward.”