Game On: Kyrgios cannot be serious

“Won’t somebody please think of the children”. 

But, how does the average parent at Beaton Park expect to put some focus and discipline – let alone fun – into their youngster’s tennis, when the kids idolise the endless circus that is Nick Kyrgios?

Of course, Kyrgios is welcome to be his own sporting train wreck if he wants. 

He has little-to-no responsibility to be a role model to anyone, though sportspeople of another sport or generation might have thought otherwise.

And the Australian sporting public are welcome to pile off the bandwagon as quickly as they jumped on, because this columnist already has. 

Wednesday night’s five-set loss to Italian battler Andreas Seppi was pathetic, after cruising to a two-set lead. 

You can analyse the statistics as much as you like. 

Seppi made just 54 per cent of final-set first serves under the fatigue of a match which stretched past three hours. 

He won just 50 per cent of second serve points, numbers enough to lose most matches at most levels. 

But Kyrgios simply wanted it a little bit less. 

In the fallout, he even managed to throw the barbs at one of his vocal critics in John McEnroe. 

It’s hilarious, not only has McEnroe won seven major titles, more significantly, the American’s famous dummy spits make Kyrgios sound like my one-year-old son after too little sleep. 

So let’s be serious for a moment. 

From the outside looking in, there may be career confusion and potentially some depression and anxiety issues attached to the expectation on him. 

But without a coach, he’s just wasting his talent and would rather be watching NBA on television and getting haircuts to match his attitude. 

So let’s move on, if it isn’t about the children, then what should the Kyrgios petulance sideshow be about, other than himself?

Well let’s make it about the privilege Kyrgios has because of his unharnessed talent. 

Here’s Kyrgios putting up the walls that success would love to flood through, when a young bloke like Thirroul’s Blake Mott battles away every week on the third and fourth string tours. 

Mott is one year, minus six days, younger than Kyrgios. 

Having never met Mott or knowing much about his temperament, he marched from 686 to 287 in the last calendar year. 

He now stands at 275, after giving the French veteran and No.18 seed Richard Gasquet a hard time in a three-set loss in the Australian Open first round, the reward for figuratively busting his racquet strings to qualify in the first place. 

It’s a giant leap, considering he went out in three sets to journeyman Maverick Banes at the Wollongong International, in his backyard at Beaton Park in November. 

So Mott, and Alex De Minaur, Jordan Thompson and Andrew Whittington may provide brief main draw highlights to the Australian public who otherwise don’t follow their paths. 

As they live in the shadow of Kyrgios, few realise the dedication it takes just to make it to the Australian Open, on a strict budget, staying in caravan parks  and hostels and playing on windswept courts. 

Mott is unlikely ever to win us a Davis Cup, or a Grand Slam title, but, every young player should be aware of his efforts when they step out on court this weekend. 

The rest of us average Australian tennis fans, who were eventually won over by Lleyton Hewitt, after the early brat years, are left to hope Thanasi Kokkinakis can return from injury and fulfill his potential while Kyrgios decides what his own future holds. Perhaps Kokkinakis can yet be the Pat Rafter to Kyrgios’s Mark Philippoussis and capture the wholesome heart of a nation. 

If we’re all still waiting for Kyrgios to be our next great tennis hero, then you’ll find me watching something else.