THE ballad of Nick Kyrgios continues.
The 24-year-old’s four-set Australian Open men’s singles victory over French journeyman Gilles Simon delivered peak Kyrgios.
Two barnstorming opening sets, a meltdown in the third set that threatened to carry over into the fourth, a dispute with an umpire followed by openly mocking a rival, a stirring crowd-pleasing win on the back of some brutal serves and a haughty press conference to top it all off.
Whatever your opinion of Kyrgios, there’s no doubt he draws attention to the sport.
His angry outbursts, sarcastic exchanges with umpires, and the bane of any journalist – his absolutely disdainful handling of press conferences – are all part of the package.
On the court he plays a game that’s easy to watch: he’s powerful, is prepared to make plays rather than wear opponents down, and when he’s up and about shows genuine passion.
The sideshow is his occasional immature antics, even he admitted he was being a tool to his players box during a third-set outburst on Thursday night, but that’s the kind of stuff the public feeds off.
But Kyrgios has shown a softer side contrary to his image.
His efforts to help those affected by bushfires by rallying the tennis community, his brotherly defence of mixed doubles partner Amanda Anisimova when reporters questioned her about the death of her father, it goes against the tennis brat narrative that has often followed the 2013 Mildura Grand Tennis International competitor.
Overall, Kyrgios doesn’t seem to be an overtly bad person, just highly emotional – which occasionally is his undoing.
Today he faces Russian world No.16 Karen Khachanov and no doubt many will tune in just to see what happens next.
