Kyrgios, a ‘bad boy’ in the tennis cathedral

Like a panther, Nick Kyrgios (27) lounges on the grass in Aorangi Park and flirts with his partner, Costen Hatzi.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
09 July 2022 Saturday 21:55
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Kyrgios, a ‘bad boy’ in the tennis cathedral

Like a panther, Nick Kyrgios (27) lounges on the grass in Aorangi Park and flirts with his partner, Costen Hatzi.

The cameras shoot at him and he doesn't care: he doesn't care about everything that is said and written about him.

– The Telegraph says that seeing you in the Wimbledon final is the tournament's worst nightmare – he is told.

Well, I have to live with that.

Others say that his progress in the draw has been a bed of roses: except for his round of 16 match against Tsitsipas (there was fire then: the Greek said that Kyrgios practices bullying with his rivals, he said he is a bully), the rest of the opponents They have been little (Jubb, Krajinovic, Nakashima, Garín...). And, they add, the only thing missing was for Nadal to injure his abs and open the doors to the final.

Kyrgios, hunched over, skinny, half-tattooed, cap backwards and Celtics tank top, shrugs.

He prefers not to talk anymore, because he contradicts himself when he does: he says he hates tennis and would have become a basketball player, and yet here he is, a net gamer, a tennis player in the final in the cathedral of the racket.

"Are you surprised to see Kyrgios here?" –Novak Djokovic, the Serb of the 20 greats, the man who chases Rafael Nadal in the race to the Grand Slams record, is asked.

–Given his career (today, Kyrgios is the 40th in the world, he stopped believing himself to be a member of the Next Gen a long time ago), you may think that, that Kyrgios does not belong here. But among tennis players we don't see it that way. Kyrgios has always been an extraordinary player, full of resources. He had been a junior (he was world number 1 in the category) and he is finding himself again these days – replies the Serbian (35).

And then add:

-What is certain is that in the final there will be fireworks.

And no one will question it.

–Kyrgios on the track is a guarantee of entertainment. As a fan, and taking into account that Nadal will not be able to be, this is the final that can give us the most emotions. What I don't like is that sometimes it goes too far – Àlex Corretja tells us in the press restaurant at the club.

In the era of good spirits, of good will between Nadal and Federer, Kyrgios proposes another scenario. He serves in a spoon, or by passing the ball between his legs. He throws a match when he feels uncomfortable, or when something upsets him. He breaks rackets.

He faces the respectable.

– Shall I tell you how you should act? –He was telling Ben Stiller this spring, in Indian Wells.

He faces the judge and, of course, the rival.

He charged Zverev for having portrayed himself at a party in times of pandemic. He told Wawrinka that Kokkinakis had slept with his girlfriend. He said that Federer was the best in history and then he said that Nadal was.

He only gets along with Djokovic: he supported him in the days of the Australian Open, when the Serb was held in a hotel, before being expatriated.

-I appreciate it, and now let's play -proposes Djokovic.