Is Nick Kyrgios the successor to the tennis villain throne?
The sport of men’s tennis has a long, colorful history of producing villains. They are an essential ingredient in the success of the sport. Where would we be, for example, without Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe to loathe (and love)? Those two men, with the help of the supremely unaffected Bjorn Borg, pulled tennis from behind the closed gates of the country club into the main stream.
McEnroe was foul-tempered and foul-mouthed. In 1985, the Queen’s Club revoked his membership for insulting the wife of the former chairman with such vile speech that she refused to repeat what he said. In 1990, the Australian Open disqualified him from the tournament for misconduct. From 1977-1991, he was fined a total of $69,500. His reward? Lucrative television commentating gigs with various networks in the US and abroad.
Jimmy Connors, one of Mac’s biggest rivals, was simply a world-class jackass. He dropped an autobiography a few years ago–it revealed that Connors is, indeed, a jackass on and off the court. One who loves his dogs, it’s true, but a jackass nevertheless (especially after revealing that then fiancee Chris Evert had an abortion back in the 70s). He was dismissive, rude, horribly behaved on court. He didn’t bother to hide his disdain–and yet his 1991 round of 16 match against Aaron Krickstein was played out in front of a near-frenzied pro-Connors crowd.
For years after, CBS pulled out the Connors-Krickstein match during rain delays. Although I watched the match live in 1991, I have surely seen it a half dozen times since. I’ve often wondered how Krickstein must have felt, losing a 5-2 lead in the fifth with the crowd backing one of the jerkiest players to ever take the court.
Of course, there are the two greatest villains of all time: Ilie Nastase and Ion Tiriac. The Romanian duo are ACTUAL villains. Nastase has proven himself to be sexist, racist, a bully, and a generally vile human being. Tiriac, a billionaire with near unlimited funds to support his baser instincts, shares his colleague’s worst qualities. To make matters worse, he has been the owner of the Madrid Masters since 2009. He recently criticized Serena Williams’ weight (the cad!) and vocally opposes equal prize money. That such an individual runs a joint ATP/WTA event is utterly baffling to me.
We simply don’t have proper villains today. Okay, sure. There is Tennys Sandgren and his bizarre support of delusional far-right propaganda on social media. The problem is that nobody knows who Tennys Sandgren is, apart from people acknowledging that his name is…unfortunate.
Sascha Zverev isn’t particularly well-liked, but I think our collective sensibilities have been warped by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Since when is getting snippy in press conferences and smacking balls into the upper decks enough to bring censure down on a player? Since Fedal, that’s when. Federer has lost his temper on VERY rare occasions and Nadal (as far as I’m aware) not at all. I’m going to come right out and say it–it’s not normal, but it is the standard by which we judge the rest.
Until Nick Kyrgios, our most recent best shot at a villain was Bernard Tomic. He who refused to practice with Lleyton Hewitt because Hewitt wasn’t “good enough”. But Tomic was no villain; he was just a brat with a bunch of dings on his driving record. How do I know the difference? Because success is an essential component of villainy. If you’re going to go out on court and behave as though everyone is beneath you, you better be able to back it up on the scoreboard. Tomic couldn’t (due in no small part to lack of interest).
Whether Kyrgios has the makings of a villain remains to be seen. His behavior is poor enough. He once famously taunted Stan Wawrinka with a HIGHLY inappropriate comment about Wawa’s girlfriend and another member of the tour (during a match!). The trash-talk earned Kyrgios a $10,000 fine. He loses his temper, smashes rackets, drops f-bombs. No, the question isn’t whether he is poorly behaved enough to be a villain, the question is whether his commitment and health will allow him to be successful enough to earn the title.
I hate to admit this, but I rather hope he comes through on the tennis front. It will contrast beautifully with Fedal, don’t you think?
Since you asked….let me put it this way: the last Kyrgios match I watched was Nadal-Kyrgios Beijing 2017. Nadal won easily but Kyrgios’ behavior during the match was so bad that I swore I’d never watch another match “featuring” (what a joke!) him. On that occasion he got upset by some call early in the match and could not get past it. He didn’t want to be a jerk at that time – the umpire tried to help him – but he simply couldn’t help himself. I don’t think he’s an evil person. I think he simply has a screw or three loose when it comes to self control and self discipline. On and off the court. He wants what he wants when he wants it and will throw a tantrum if he doesn’t get it. I had four children; I know a two year old when I see one. Anyway, I watch tennis to see tennis played, not to see antics.
For the record I was a Borg fan and detested both Connors and MacEnroe. I liked both better later in their careers as they mellowed some. Connors did have a sense of humor and God knows it never occurred to the man to give less than his best on a tennis court. Mac was also a player, not just a show off in it for the money. He loved to play and he loved to play singles and doubles and Davis Cup.
Ya, I liked Borg, too. Still do, in fact. 🙂 The antics were ridiculous to me…but boy did I like Mac’s tennis. Such talent that man had. He might have had the best court sense I’ve ever witnessed. I never did understand Connors’ appeal.
I don’t disagree that there might be something a little off with Kyrgios, but I also know that he obviously has a mean streak, so I don’t let him off the hook that easily. You don’t say what he said to Stan without having a nasty side to you.
Cheryl, NK didn’t say that TO Stan. He muttered it under his breath and a mike picked it up. Stan didn’t find out about it until he was in the locker room and got an earful. If you’re going to pick on a person’s thoughts…well, we’ve ALL got a nasty side!
I dunno. I’ve seen the clip. It’s hard to believe he didn’t mean to be heard? He finished the statement with something like “Sorry about that, mate”.
As I said in the article, I’m not against a player like NK having success. Because tennis is a one-on-one sport, these sorts of narratives make for more compelling, fan-friendly events. I am for ANYTHING that gives tennis a bump in popularity.
“sorry to tell you that mate”
he knew it was either heard or would be heard
Right. I knew I didn’t have it quite right. LOL.
And now that I think about it, the fact that he didn’t say it TO Stan but loudly enough to be sure he’d hear it later is even MORE mean, because he didn’t even use it as leverage in the match – he just said it to be nasty. Huh.
I’d compare NK to La Monf. They are guys that will hang out in the 12-25 ranking area for the primes of their career. They are freaks of nature talents that never got into proper tennis shape nor had the focus between the ears. Simply coasting through lesser opponents and small tournaments and failing to overcome top 5 ranked opponents that have elite mental toughness and struggling to go deep into majors.
He reminds me a tiny bit of Andre Agassi in the early years. Lots of flash, less substance.
Except NO ONE ever complained about Monfils tanking. He may prefer flash to substance but that’s the worst you can say about him. He’s always gotten injured a lot but he certainly looks very fit. Otoh, I have noticed that if Rafa can’t go shot for shot with him, he’ll run him ragged.
Agreed, Ramara. It has never EVER been about effort with La Monf. His body is just prone to injury.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ-cuNRekJM&t=85s
Let’s just enjoy
I appreciate naughty Nick for his tennis – his tennis is the most entertaining when he’s focused and healthy.
He isn’t a villain, imo, like JMac and Conners. Maybe I was to young and couldn’t assess why I didn’t like them. But I do remember laughing at JMac’s outbursts – also embarrassed for him at the same time. Maybe I’m just too desensitized by this point in life, compared to others here with higher standard, that I don’t allow the negative to overwhelm what I like about him, I confess. It’s only tennis …it’s not like he’s running the country. That would be very bad.
Thanks for the video, BGFAN69. 😀 enjoyed that.
Considering the fact that Kyrgios’ desire to compete is so often brought into question, it’s pretty amazing how he almost always competes EXTREMELY well against the best players… He’s doing it right now against Del Po. If he could just compete like that in every one of his matches, he would very likely be in the business end of most majors!
he disappeared quickly, but that was fun for 2 sets
^^^ And this is why the results part is always a question mark.
NK likes Cincy. But he’s not completely healthy. Had some weird strapping on his knees (I looked at the last few points.) He has hip problems. His training methods, if you can call them that, are suspect or so I’ve read. As a kid you can get away with it but he’s 24 and pro tennis, even NK style, is hard on the ol’ body. Or maybe he just got bored. Hard to tell with Old Nick.
Great article Cheryl.
I saw a really well done reunion story on ESPN’s 30 for 30 on Aaron Krickstein you might like. They hadn’t spoken for over 20 years after that match. I can’t access the video in this link because I’m outside the US but you might be able to see it here.
https://www.espnplayer.com/video/this-is-what-they-want
Also this NYT article…
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/29/sports/tennis/us-open-roof-aaron-krickstein-jimmy-connors.html
I wasn’t able to access the video, but the article was great. I’d forgotten that Krickstein beat Agassi that year. I remember Dick Enberg repeating “James Scott Connors” over and over instead of just calling him Jimmy, like using his full name gave him respectability or something.