Issue 11: Nick Kyrgios Good at Self-Sabotage
Four years ago, after I met and spoke with feral tennis player Nick Kyrgios, I eviscerated him in my column for CBSNewYork.
He was low hanging fruit.
He had just been fined for tanking a match in China and verbally abusing a spectator. Subsequently in Mexico he told fans of his Jewish opponent, Dudi Sela, to “shut the f___ up” during their match.
Spending a winter’s day and night in New York for a cash-grab exhibition match at Madison Square Garden, Kyrgios exuded the peripatetic nature of a professional tennis player. He skulked outside the press conference room of the Central Park South hotel. There was a distance in his presence. I approached.
He had utter disdain for me and what I represented even before I could ask him any questions. He didn’t feign regret for his actions in previous weeks and months. But Kyrgios had been public about how he didn’t love tennis — despite his successes — so none of this shocked me.
Truthfully, he was a breath of fresh air. The petulance he played with on court was not put on. He wasn’t trying to be anything he wasn’t. He was in fact that moody. He really did sulk around.
He wore the “next bad boy of tennis” label not as crown, but as a cement necklace.
Simply, his act remains the same way win or lose — unhinged.
Kyrgios showcased this on Monday in his first round match at the 2021 Australian Open. Projecting his sluggish start onto a member of his team sitting in the stands, he yelled in between points, “Tell your girlfriend to get out of my box!”
The Australian cruised to an easy victory after that outburst and will face 29th ranked Frenchman Ugo Humbert in the second round on Wednesday at 3am ET.
Kyrgios’ biggest career win came in his Wimbledon debut in 2014 when he beat world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the fourth round to advance to the quarterfinals. It’s also a haunting benchmark of the last big win he’s had. He’s flirted with breaking into the top 10 in the years since, but his head hasn’t allowed that.
The 25-year-old is currently 47th in the world, but he’s forever Australia’s forlorn hope.
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Until next time...
-Benjamin Block