Kyrgios should do something else – Rusedski
Aussie shows little fight again in Millman defeat Sharapova pulls through to reach the third round
Greg Rusedski, the former British No1, suggested yesterday that Nick Kyrgios should consider giving up tennis after he had been eliminated from the US Open by his fellow Australian, world No235 John Millman.
Kyrgios turned in a typically perverse performance as he departed the tournament in the first round, trailing code violations and broken rackets in his wake. Admittedly, he was handicapped by a sore shoulder during his 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 defeat, but Rusedski still felt the lack of effort was inexcusable. “Yes the shoulder was bothering him,” said Rusedski, commentating for Eurosport. “But take two anti-inflammatory tablets, get the physio on and find a way through it. He was serving at 137 miles per hour with a bad shoulder, he didn’t have any problems with his feet or his legs so he could run as much as he liked.
“If he doesn’t want to play tennis then don’t play tennis, go do something else with your life. I mean there’s people working 9-5 in jobs which are so hard, grinding everyday and making no pay whatsoever. He’s getting millions of dollars a year to play this sport. But he has the chance to walk away and do something else with his life.”
Kyrgios did at least stay on the court until the end, having been criticised earlier in the season for retiring midway through three successive matches. But he showed precious little fight towards the end, and was also hit with two code of conduct penalties – the first for an audible obscenity and the second for a venomous racket smash. As a result, he was docked a point, and Millman began the fourth set with a 15-0 lead in his first service game.
The medical drama mainly occurred in the third set, when Kyrgios called the trainer on for shoulder massages at three successive changes of ends. He explained his arm had suddenly started feeling dead and numb after one serve, and that the pain had come out of nowhere, although it was also the right shoulder that had forced him to retire during the Citi Open in Washington four weeks ago.
Kyrgios then launched into a disconsolate monologue, aimed towards the trainer and picked up on the courtside microphone. “I finally have a good week last week, and then come the US Open, I’m feeling good, playing a tough match against an Aussie, middle of the third set, it’s rough, man.”
Millman is not the sort of player you can afford to lose your edge against, because he runs down every ball and rarely misses. Kyrgios continued to find the occasional whipcrack serve, but his concentration and motivation evaporated as he lost eight of the last nine games.
Afterwards, Kyrgios lamented: “I have had a diabolical year at these slams. It doesn’t surprise me. It’s just the story of my career, really. I will have good weeks; I’ll have bad weeks. It’s just a roller-coaster.”
The most recent Masters tournament in Cincinnati, which finished 11 days ago, was certainly a good week for Kyrgios, who reached the final and earned just over £360,000 in prize money. But the greater physical strains of best-of-five-sets tennis appear to have been too much for Kyrgios this year, judging by his failure to win a single match in the three grand-slam events he has entered.
After the latest debacle, Kyrgios was also asked whether he would continue working with his coach, the former French No 1 Sebastien Grosjean. “I don’t know, honestly,” he replied. “I’m not good enough for him. You know, he’s very dedicated. He’s an unbelievable coach. He probably deserves a player that is more dedicated than I am.”
Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova moved into the third round, but not without a struggle. In her second successive three-setter, Sharapova went behind early against Timea Babos of Hungary but fought her way back to claim a 6-7, 6-4, 6-1 victory. “There were a lot of emotions after my first-round match,” said Sharapova, in relation to her thrilling struggle with Simona Halep on the opening night of this tournament. “Today I wanted to move on really fast. I just wanted to get it done. It was a scrappy match, but sometimes those are the best days because you give yourself another chance to perform.
“She also had a tough match going into the second round,” said Sharapova of Babos, who had needed 2hr 35min to beat Viktorija Golubic. “I wanted to be the fittest player out there.”
Britain’s Aljaz Bedene failed to reach the third round, losing 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 to Russia’s Andrey Rublev.