Kyrgios reveals new inspiration

Love match

t has been a week of tennis drama, backlit by Ilie Nastase’s sexist rants and Maria Sharapova’s dubious wild cards. With claims and counter-claims flying around the ether, we might have expected Nick Kyrgios – Australia’s serial controversialist – to pop up with a fiery outburst of his own.

Yet since the Australian Open – where he tumbled out with a snarl at the crowd and a jibe at commentator John McEnroe – all has been quiet on the Kyrgios front. His rockiest moment of the last three months came in Miami, when he dealt curtly with a clumsy ballboy. Even there, he redeemed himself by handing the lad a souvenir towel as he left.

Could we be witnessing the turning point for Kyrgios? It feels as if he is sloughing off the old skin – moochy, rebellious man-boy – and growing up into the tennis titan he always threatened to be. And the more you look at his recent winning streak – which now extends to 12 straight victories against players not named Roger Federer – the more you feel that love might be the answer.

“After the Australian Open, I was in a pretty dark place,” says Kyrgios, speaking to

in Miami. “The tournament for me was a disaster. The couple of weeks leading up, I wasn’t in good physical shape. I was in a tough mental space and I wasn’t able to prepare the way I wanted to.

“Then I thought about the position Alja [Tomljanovic, his girlfriend, a fellow pro] was in. I’ve seen her when she was in a sling, just after surgery, not being able to hit, and the dark place she was in. It put a bit of perspective into my life. Seeing her more often is helping my head space. We practise a lot, back in Boca [Florida], and hopefully we’re going to play mixed doubles at Wimbledon. It would be good to see her back there at a grand slam.”

Kyrgios turned 22 on Thursday, and will soon be celebrating his two-year anniversary with Tomljanovic, who was Australia’s No 2 until her shoulder operation. He was scheduled to be opening his clay-court season on Wednesday in Portugal but the death of his grandfather Christos last week has prompted him to return to Australia. Kyrgios had been training in Charlottesville, Virginia, the venue for the latest second-tier tournament on Alja’s comeback trail. But while Tomljanovic may have been an inspiration, she is not the only one. As he matures, Kyrgios is learning how to cope with his peripatetic life. Which means surrounding himself with as many allies as possible.

People such as his Davis Cup captain, Lleyton Hewitt, and doubles partner, Matt Reid. “After Nick lost early at the Australian Open, he was pretty disappointed,” Hewitt explains. “I got him to come around the other team-mates before our Davis Cup tie, just to see that there were other people who had his back.

“We set up a group chat that we’re all on, because it’s not just about supporting him on Davis Cup weeks. It becomes pretty lonely on the tour. Having a guy like Matt Reid as a hitting partner, too – he just makes it easier for Nick to go out and enjoy his tennis and not get quite as homesick.”

Having won his Davis Cup rubber against the Czech Republic in February, Kyrgios delivered a tour de force earlier this month, winning both his singles matches against the United States. The emotional bond between Australia’s captain and No 1 player is developing all the time, and he recently bought a second home in the Bahamas, close to Hewitt’s new coaching base at the Albany Sports Academy. Yet Kyrgios says he is not looking to move away from Australia full time; quite the reverse. It might seem paradoxical that such a captivating athlete should have emerged from Canberra, one of the most boring cities in Christendom. But when this clichéd description is put to him, he rolls his eyes.

“It depends what you like,” he replies. “It’s nice and quiet, very homely. I love to go out and have fun, but I’m not all about partying, so that’s a perfect place for me to get away from tennis with my friends. I think Canberra is the best place in the world.”

Above all, he values time spent with his close-knit clan. “I am very family-orientated,” he says. He was devastated at losing his grandfather, whom he described on Facebook as “always supporting, always knew the score, what was going on and even knew that Federer was the goat. Fly high CK...”

His relatives understand his need for regular contact. Most tennis junkies would recognise the other Christos – Nick’s brother and constant companion on tour – via his resemblance to WWF wrestler The Rock. But they all take turns to join the carousel: father Giorgos, mother Nill, who was born a princess in the Malaysian royal family, and sister Hami, a singer and actress.

All this might sound unexpectedly wholesome for a character with a long rap-sheet, which includes tanking matches and sledging Stan Wawrinka about his sex life. But is there a very different man hiding under the braggadocio, a vulnerable soul whose flare-ups tend to come when he feels isolated?

As Hewitt puts it: “It’s like a snowball effect. Once someone does something at a young age, it keeps getting brought up all the time – I’ve felt that over the years