It is August 3rd, and the crowd in Washington is host to an intense match between Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas. What starts peacefully soon turns into another one of Nick Kyrgios’s meltdown, as he smashes his racket on the ground twice and grunts at the unfavorable attitude of the crowd.
Kyrgios was serving at 2-1 when the crowd rattled him with taunts. Kyrgios, who is known to be on his heels in the court, lost all patience and furiously slammed his racket on the court while hurling abuse.
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Earlier in the tournament, playing against Slovak Norbert Gombos, Krygios went to a female in the court and asked her, “Where do you want me to go with this serve?”
The suggestion did work for Kyrgios as he went on to get an ace on that particular serve. Kyrgios thanked his supporter at the end of the match and went on to embrace her. He then went on to mention this in his after match press conference, “I’m just super happy that all the work I’m doing off the court is translating onto the court. Four days in a row, four matches competing at my highest level; I’m pretty happy with in honestly. The crowd’s been amazing. I love playing night matches here. The crowd’s hanging around for late night matches and getting into it, and I’m just trying to give them fun tennis to watch, and also trying to get some wins as well.”
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Kyrgios is certainly new and unique to the sport of tennis. We have seen many stars pass around, but it is good to have someone bring back that swagger that was absent from the courts for a long time.
Britain’s Andy Murray recently mentioned why Nick Kyrgios is necessary and perfect for the sport. “When he’s mentally engaged in the matches, he’s brilliant for tennis because he has an exciting game, a big personality and he’s different,” mentioned Murray while speaking to the official ATP website.
“His match with Rafa [Nadal] at Wimbledon was one of the best matches of the tournament. That’s really good for tennis. As someone who knows him well, I like him. I just want to see him do that all of the time,” added Murray.
Murray however was quick to mention that there was a fine line between being competitive and being offensive towards others, and that all players should be looking to follow it.
“Everyone matures at different ages. Some people are ready when they are 18, 19 to deal with what comes with being a top athlete and some people aren’t ready and it takes them a bit of time. I’m hoping that with time Nick will learn and be better for it. When he’s engaged in tennis and wants to play he’s brilliant for the game. And when he isn’t giving his best effort and misbehaving, that’s not what people want to see. He needs to find that balance.”
Kyrgios has himself mentioned that he has come a long way during the past few months, and has more command on his anger than before.
In a recent conference, Kyrgios said: “It’s amazing. Where I was six months ago, some of the things I was doing, to respond like this having incredible support, it’s amazing. I’ve proved to myself and a lot of people that have backed me that I still have it. It’s been one of the best weeks of my life from a tennis perspective.”
While there is still uncertainty over the path Kyrgios’s career takes in the future, what we do know is that he is destined to achieve a lot more for himself and for the sport.