Tennis: why it needs its “bad boys”
“It was a very Nick Kyrgios thing for Nick Kyrgios to do,” said Tom Fordyce on BBC Sport online. At the Shanghai Masters last week, the Australian 21-year-old did not just lose to Mischa Zverev, a player ranked almost 100 places below him: he “scuttled himself mid-battle”. Instead of serving properly, he merely “patted the ball over the net”. At one point, he walked to his chair before Zverev had even returned the ball. Kyrgios eventually lost the match – but not before begging the umpire to call time so he could “go home”. The ATP took a dim view of his capitulation, suspending him until January. But, more than anything, the sport is disappointed in the world No. 14, who is a player of rare gifts. When he wants to win, “the court is his”; last week, however, he was only too happy to give it away.
Kyrgios’s behaviour is truly baffling, said Oliver Brown in The Daily Telegraph. He seemed to be in superb form: just three days before he lost to Zverev, he won the Japan Open. But he seems incapable of conquering his “chronic attitude problem”. He routinely swears, argues and smashes rackets; last year, he taunted Stan Wawrinka, telling him that another player had “banged” Wawrinka’s girlfriend. It’s one thing to excuse the great sporting “bad boys” – John Mcenroe, say, or Ronnie O’sullivan – on the strength of their achievements, but Kyrgios hasn’t even reached the semi-finals of a grand slam. He is “short-changing” not only his supporters but himself. Yet this man still deserves our sympathy, said Charlie Eccleshare in the same paper. The life of a top player is boring, repetitive and relentless – and the Australian is clearly failing to cope. He is retreating from adulthood, surrounding himself with a teenage entourage and playing Pokémon Go obsessively. In a sport short on interesting characters, tennis “desperately needs” Kyrgios: what he needs, in turn, is its support.
Kyrgios isn’t the only player struggling with “inner turmoil”, said Barry Flatman in The Times. In his semi-final loss in Shanghai, Novak Djokovic became increasingly rattled, ripping his shirt and crushing his racket. When he won the French Open in June, the Serb’s grip at the top seemed unbreakable. Since then, however, he has looked mentally and physically exhausted. While Djokovic has slumped, Andy Murray has been in the form of his life, said Simon Briggs in The Daily Telegraph. On Sunday, he capped a remarkable fortnight in China, where he won two titles without dropping a set. Murray remains world No. 2, yet he “looms ever closer in Djokovic’s rear-view mirror”. The rankings may say otherwise for now, but on present form he’s the best in the world.