Youngster Nick Kyrgios says he has 'nothing to lose' when he takes on tennis heavy weight Rafael Nadal in the fourth round of Wimbledon tonight.
He had nine lives but don't call him a cat. Australia's Nick Kyrgios celebrates beating France's Richard Gasquet after saving nine match points at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships. AFP PHOTO / ANDREW COWIE Source: AFP
THERE'S a great story from a couple of years back about 19-year-old Australian tennis prodigy Nick Kyrgios, who tomorrow faces Rafael Nadal in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Kyrgios was practising with Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open on a typically dry, scorching Melbourne summer day. He was desperate for a drink but Lleyton wouldn't "let" him have one.
It's not that Hewitt expressly forbade Kyrgios to go for his drink bottle. It's that Hewitt wasn't stopping for a drink and Kyrgios didn't want to seem presumptuous, arrogant or weak by comparison.
"It was a nightmare, I wanted a drink for 45 minutes but I was scared to initiate it," he recalled this week.
The moral of the story is simple: can you imagine Bernard Tomic ever behaving that way? Forget lapping a few drops of water, Tomic probably would have stopped for a lapdance halfway through the practice session.
Unlike Tomic, Nick Kyrgios is genuinely hungry for success. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant) Source: NewsComAu
The arrival this week of Nick Kyrgios as a genuine tennis sensation is an event most tennis fans have long been waiting for. At last, we no longer have to pretend we like Bernard Tomic.
Kyrgios, if you missed it, saved a record-equalling nine match points in his epic five-set upset of French star Richard Gasquet. In the final game, Kyrgios blew Gasquet away. Tomic would have just blown a gasket.
To date, Kyrgios has boomed more aces (76) than anyone else at this year's Wimbledon. But he has shown a promising array of strokes to back up his power, showing frequent deft touches. The guy's got a subtle sense of humour too.
Fourteen plus zero equals 14. Nice maths, Nick!
The last couple of years have been tough for Aussie tennis fans as we've watched Bernard Tomic occasionally show his talent, but mostly abuse it, mock it, waste it. The day he lost the quickest ever ATP game in about the time it takes to boil rice was just one of many low points.
Yet still we've cheered for him, hoping against hope that it's surely just a matter of time until his infantile mind catches up with his oversized body.
Hasn't happened yet and maybe it never will. Either way, it now scarcely matters because Nick Kyrgios is number one in our hearts. This likeable young Canberran has a lovely vibe about him. He's aggressive but controlled, a killer on the court and a puppy dog off it.
The last time Tomic cried like this was when he had to sell his orange sports car. AFP PHOTO / ANDREW COWIE Source: AFP
You've got to be half a bastard to win tennis matches, but only half. It also helps if you're a decent, well-rounded human being. Just ask Andre Agassi and Roger Federer and our own Pat Rafter, who all started their careers as angry young men, then started winning major trophies when they got their heads together.
Tomic may do likewise. There's still time for him. But that's for him to worry about now, not us, because the hopes of most Australians are now officially pinned on the shoulders of Nick Kyrgios.
"I'm just excited to be out there and have a chance to excite the crowd again," Kyrgios said after beating Gasquet.
Hear that? It's about us, not him, about what we feel not what he feels.
"Australia's history of tennis goes a long way back, but Pat Cash mentoring you and and Lleyton giving advice, it's always good having those tennis legends helping you," Kyrgios said in the same interview
Get that, Bernie? The kid takes advice.
Compare those quotes to an infamous interview Tomic did way back in 2007, aged just 14 when he said he wanted to have "the mind of Pete Sampras, the groundstrokes of Roger Federer and the heart of Lleyton Hewitt".
There seems to be a word missing before the word "head" on those bags. AFP PHOTO / GLYN KIRK Source: AFP
Bernard Tomic has always had big dreams and an even bigger ego. Now he's got the big ranking to go with it. He'll be somewhere above 100 after Wimbledon.
As for Kyrgios, he'll be double digits. And number one with a bullet in the hearts of Aussie tennis fans regardless of how he does against Nadal. One thing we can bank on: this match won't be over by the first commercial break.
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