In most places that aren’t Serbia, when you ask tennis fans who their favorite player is, you’ll mostly hear some version of “Federer” “Nadal” or “Fedal” (for the undecided).
Not so in Atlanta.
Atlantans are Kyrgios people–a fact I was reminded of with force and frequency on the first day of the first round, in the humid soup that is the Atlanta summer. “Oh. Nick Kyrgios! He’s AWESOME!”, they told me with relish when asked.
Pressed to articulate precisely what it is that makes NK “awesome,” the under 15 set sputter a few more qualifiers like “cool!” and “hilarious!” while the over 15 crowd offers more interesting insights. Their first answer always references his success over the Big 3. Of course, it isn’t an entirely accurate assessment; he has only beaten Roger Federer once in seven tries and Rafael Nadal three times in eight tries. That hardly makes him a Big 3 slayer (it’s only Novak Djokovic who remains winless against the Aussie at 0-2).
The second thing they say is “Imagine how good he’d be if he actually tried!”
Both answers are intriguing on their own, but together they’re fascinating. Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have spent the last 15 years shaping the sport. The three of them are so good, so consistent, so diligent, fierce and determined, that there is literally no such thing as winning a major on talent alone right now and certainly no chance to win on a fluke. They’ve as good as eliminated the possibility that we’re going to see another Boris Becker sashay into Wimbledon at age 17 as a qualifier and waltz away with the title. It’s as though that facet of tennis has been completely erased–at least for the time being.
Many tennis fans miss it. Atlantans miss it. They’re getting close to desperate for some unpredictability in the big moments…and in Kyrgios they see a glimmer of hope, because he’s capable of shaking things up; maybe more capable than any other single player on tour. The fact that they never know what he’s going to do on court just scratches another itch. He might fight with Fergus Murphy, insult Djokovic, complain about the amount of time Nadal takes between points even when he’s playing against someone that isn’t Nadal, or just stop trying and get fined for lack of effort. He might smash rackets or argue with fans. And once in a while he’s flat-out brilliant.
He is, put simply, entertaining and unpredictable.
And while antics on the tennis court are nothing new, the sentiment surrounding Kyrgios is. Because people don’t love to hate him…they just love him or they hate him. And the ones that love him are so devoted, they’re willing to forgive the fact that he doesn’t like tennis very much, doesn’t try very hard, and sometimes loses on purpose. Of course, when the Atlanta tennis fans say “Imagine how good he’d be if he actually tried,” there is an unspoken second half of the answer in the offing, which is that they think he might someday. Try, that is. They are silently begging for it.
Scores of fans streamed into the stadium on Monday evening on the first day of main draw play. They went to watch Kyrgios play a doubles match with Jack Sock. Sam Querrey was also on the ticket, but that’s not who the fans came for. They want Kyrgios, in all of his irreverent glory.
“…in all of his irreverent glory”…..Exactly!
his practice session was more packed than the matches on Sunday
He tries harder in practise sessions