Nick Kyrgios: “Sometimes tennis is a sh*t sport”


Nick Kyrgios: “Sometimes tennis is a sh*t sport”
Nick Kyrgios

It has become common lore in the ATP Tour that Nick Kyrgios is one of the few ‘bad boys’; his antics during tournaments and off-court have been controversial and polarizing at best.

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In fact, there may not be any other player in history who has been fined more for their behavior on the court. Kyrgios has faced violations for multiple offenses, sometimes more than one at a time. Racket abuse, swearing, arguing, tanking and walking off the court without permission are just some of the many laws he has broken in his career.

But now, in a talk with Reputation Rehab, a TV series from ABC, the Australian world no. 44 admits that he finds the branding of his reputation as ‘unfair’, and says that sometimes he just gets caught up in the frustration on-court, leading to the violations.

If I’m losing, I tend to swear a lot: Nick

Nick Kyrgios also has a long-running on-court feud with Rafael Nadal

The TV series aims to investigate the background behind the hate personalities receive. Coming with the tagline that “everyone deserves a second chance”, it features Nick Kyrgios in the very first episode.

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In the episode, Nick explains that all of his antics arise from frustration. He said, “If I’m in a tough battle and I’m losing, I tend to swear a lot. Off the court, I actually don’t. I’m actually quite chilled and mellow. I’m never going to condone swearing and getting angry for no reason.”

Nick added that the ubiquity of cameras and microphones in today’s tennis tournaments is why his behavior is in media. He also said that if the same were in other sports, the scene would be much worse. He explained, “You’re out there (on-court) on your own. The camera’s always on that one person, there are microphones everywhere. If you had microphones everywhere in the AFL or NFL, some of the things would be pretty epic.”

While Kyrgios loves tennis for the inspiration it brings to younger generations, he admits that it gets frustrating at times. He said, “I love what I can get out of the sport. A lot of young kids look up to me now and I can give back, but at times tennis is a sh*t sport. It’s so frustrating.”

Also Read: “Rafael Nadal and I have had our differences” Nick Kyrgios comments on his ongoing-feud with Rafa

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