Kyrgios on to fourth round Down Under
MELBOURNE, Australia — With Will Smith in the crowd and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga across the net, Nick Kyrgios was in his element as the main attraction for a night at the Australian Open.
Time to put on a show.
One of his favorite actors — Smith was making his Grand Slam debut as a spectator — watched Friday as Kyrgios held his composure to beat childhood hero Tsonga 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) in the third round. The 17th-seeded Kyrgios won the last five points after falling behind 5-2 in the tiebreaker.
For an Australian public desperate to see a home-grown winner of the men’s singles draw in this tournament for the first time since 1976, a seemingly reinvigorated Kyrgios could be the redemption story.
“Playing Jo, I was obviously very nervous. He was a guy I looked up to as a kid. Still do,” Kyrgios said in an on-court interview, recounting how he brought a ball to be signed by Tsonga every day when the Frenchman reached the Australian Open final in 2008.
Then he gave a nod to Smith, the actor he would pick to play him if there was a movie to be made.
“When I saw him out here, I was so nervous. No joke,” Kyrgios explained. “People think I’m cool, but I wanted him to think I was the coolest person ever.”
Cool was the optimal word late on the event’s fifth day, when a threatening heat wave finally subsided
after no matches were suspended despite searing temperatures hitting 104 degrees at Melbourne Park for a second straight day.
As conditions improved, thirdranked Grigor Dimitrov beat No. 30 Andrey Rublev 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to secure a spot in the fourth round against Kyrgios, who beat him at the Brisbane International last month on the way to the title.
Kyrgios has been a divisive character in Australia, getting plenty of criticism for his off-color comments to Stan Wawrinka about his
girlfriend and his fine in 2016 for showing a “lack of best efforts,” unsporting conduct and verbally abusing a spectator at the Shanghai Masters.
The public perception may be changing, though.
“It doesn’t worry me at all. It’s not something I wake up and I’m like, ‘Look, today I’m going to try to change the perception,’ ” said Kyrgios, who reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals as a teenager in 2014. “I’ve always played the same way. Nothing has changed. I’ve always been emotional.”