Tennis’ New Bad Boy Nick Kyrgios Needs to Grow Up

In 2014 Australia’s Nick Kyrgios showed he is a player to be taken seriously, as far as the future of men’s singles tennis is concerned. By beating 14-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal in the fourth round at Wimbledon, the flighty 20-year-old had also become quite a popular face, known for his energy and fresh demeanor on the court.

The same year Kyrgios was selected to play in the inaugural International Premier Tennis League, a premier tennis exhibition event started by Mahesh Bhupathi to promote the game in Asia. Among others the event included the likes of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych and Caroline Wozniacki.

At the Montreal Masters in August this year, however, Kyrgios turned himself into a villain overnight when he took an unlikely dig at French Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka during a match.

“(Thanasi) Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend,” he said. “Sorry to tell you that, mate”.

Although Kyrgios had been questioned for his behavior before, he had not indulged in this sort of sledging with a player so respected in the tennis world.

The girl in question during the banter was WTA player Donna Vekic, who has previously played mixed doubles with Kyrgios’ compatriot Kokkinakis and is presently Wawrinka’s girlfriend.

The words were especially difficult to digest for Wawrinka, considering he had only a few months ago divorced from his ex-wife and he let everyone know on Twitter how broken he was after that exchange.

Kyrgios was later handed a 28-day suspension and a $10,000 fine by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). An additional $25,000 fine would be added to Kyrgios if he were to collect any other fines or bans during the next six months for his verbal behaviour. The Australian apologized for the incident but only after widespread condemnation from tennis players around the world.

The new air of rebelliousness in tennis, however, is not limited to Kyrgios. Only a few days after the Kyrgios episode, 19-year-old Kokkinakis and Ryan Harrison of the USA had to be separated by the umpire during a Cincinnati Masters qualifying match.

“Your whole crew is just so cool,” Harrison told Kokkinakis, referring to previous week’s massive drama.

Coincidentally, a few months ago Djokovic’s coach and former multiple Grand Slam champion Boris Becker, had said in his autobiography that tennis players of the present era were too disciplined and that this was affecting the popularity of the game.

In the old days, tennis had the likes of Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe swearing openly during matches.

There were instances during exhibition matches between the two when Connors had to rush to the dressing room to bring back a livid McEnroe back to court, who often even refused to play because of a bad umpiring decision.

Connors even goes on to reveal in his autobiography ‘The Outsider,’ that he once peed on the service line during a match to relieve himself as players back then weren’t allowed to take frequent bathroom breaks.

In one match Connors held his groin area once to express angst with certain members of the crowd during a match, who were even cheering his double faults. But that was all done in good humour.

When Connors and McEnroe resorted to their rebellious ways, they were doing it only to get the people interested in a sport that was far less popular than basketball or baseball at the time in America. Kids at Connors’ primary school even made fun of him when he said he wanted to be a tennis player.

Together, the likes of Connors, McEnroe and Ilie Nastase made tennis the sport that it is today. Back then, before these players stepped onto court, there were small crowds and even smaller accolades. With the help of sponsors and private leagues these players transformed the sport.

What Kyrgios and Kokkinakis are doing is unfortunately not being done in the right spirit. They are acting like spoiled brats, and since there is a unified men’s governing tennis body now unlike in the previous days, such behavior will almost always prompt strict action.

Kyrgios should instead learn from someone like a Djokovic, who along with being generous is an entertainer and keeps the crowd engrossed with his widely popular mimicry. Copying McEnroe and Connors or Nastase will surely not do the sport of tennis any good in the present scenario. These guys are nowhere near the gentlemen those champions were, I’m sure I’m not the only person who believes that.