Nick Kyrgios is seen by many as a potential future star; whether he turns out to be one is another matter but something I’ve heard often is how he’s “good for the game”, and that annoys me. It annoys me because given how much disrespect he’s shown, there is no reason why a flashy game should make him good for tennis or sport in general.
Why Nick Kyrgios Isn’t “Good for the Game”
Lets start with his match today against Dustin Brown. Once the German broke to lead in the third set most of the rest of the set was a complete and obvious tank. Going for hopeless shots consistently, failing to put away sitters, and downright obviously not caring. For some reason, however, it’s brought up by commentators during his matches but long-run it’s not. That’s rather strange when you look at the Australian’s compatriot Bernard Tomic in which you’ll find a big deal has been made about his apparent tanking during matches, so why isn’t it the same for the 21-year-old given it’s a recurring theme?
We can move on another thing he does on court, and that’s act like a brat! Only last year, during this very tournament, against Diego Schwartzman he called someone in the crowd “dirty scum”. It gets worse, given the amount of incidents he’s had with umpires has reached a point where it’s a regular event. This year alone at Roland Garros he accused an umpire of “unbelievable bias” when the Australian screamed at a ballboy and, making the matter worse, he then went on to say “That’s f****** b*******”. Furthermore in Shanghai last year he was fined for “audible obscenity” and received a code violation due to hitting a ball towards a line judge.
So on court he’s had incidences with the umpire, fans, ballkids and linejudges, but how about players themselves? Oh wait, he’s done that too. I think everyone in the tennis world knows, but just to bring it up again in last year’s Montreal Masters this year’s sixteenth seed at Wimbledon told Stan Wawrinka, “Kokkinakis (a fellow tennis player) slept with your girlfriend, sorry to tell you that, mate”, in which the Swiss star responded after the match saying that it’s “So disappointing to see a fellow athlete and colleague be so disrespectful in a way could never even imagine”.
It’s pretty clear on court he’s about as disrespectful as can be, but it’s unfortunately the same off court. Several times he has attacked tennis fans on Twitter. Several months ago he told a woman in response to general tweet something along the lines of “Good for you, have fun not having a life” before eventually deleting that and other offensive tweets.
I’ve only touched on a few of the incidences involving the 2014 Wimbledon quarterfinalist, but even then there’s enough to show why he isn’t good for the game. While I understand many may like his game and that he’s a player many love or hate, that’s no excuse for the pathetic human being he is to others on and off the court. When he’s playing tennis viewers see the full package; who wants their kids hearing a professional tennis player swearing, tanking and throwing fits on a regular basis? No one.
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