Nick Kyrgios the voice of reason while Boris Becker and others think they can play by their own rules
We’ve entered a world where Nick Kyrgios is the voice of reason for world tennis. How did we get here and will we stay there? Robert Craddock looks at how the Aussie bad boy is taking his fellow pros to task over COVID-19.
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Crazy events are happening every day in sport but the wackiest of all is Nick Kyrgios becoming a COVID crusader and the clear-thinking conscience of a twisted tennis world.
St Nick. Moral guardian. Who’d a thunk it?
It was on again on Tuesday night with Kyrgios firing back at tennis great Boris Becker for branding him a “rat’’ for calling out Germany’s Alexander Zverev for partying in Monaco after Zverev had promised to self isolate for being part of an ill-fated tennis tour that featured a string of COVID cases.
Eventually Becker graciously retreated, a smart move because by playing the man and not the virus he at no stage held the high moral ground and to keep it going would have only seen him slide further down the cliff-face.
Becker’s embarrassingly naive stance said so much about the bubble boy world of professional tennis where some players feel they make rules and don’t necessarily have to follow them, criticisms often worn by Kyrgios.
Earlier, Kyrgios had created world headlines for blasting the “boneheaded’’ decision by Novak Djokovic and others to conduct a tennis tour that saw Djokovic, his wife and three more players test positive to the coronavirus after a party in Belgrade.
It’s brave stuff because Kyrgios has become a prisoner of his actions.
Don’t like no #rats ! Anybody telling off fellow sportsman/woman is no friend of mine! Look yourself in the mirror and think your better than us...@NickKyrgios @farfetch
— Boris Becker (@TheBorisBecker) June 30, 2020
For goodness sake Boris, I’m not competing or trying to throw anyone under the bus. It’s a global pandemic and if someone is as idiotic as Alex to do what he has done, I’ll call him out for it. Simple.
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) June 30, 2020
He would only need a solitary moment of recklessness with a group photo or a nightclub dance shot to be held up to ridicule by the social media world now toasting his bravado.
Today’s cavalier stance could be tomorrow’s rod for his back so we must fall short of declaring him the ultimate victor.
But right now, even given his previously horrendous behaviour, he’s a hard man to lay a glove on - and not just because he’ll ask you to stay two metres away from him.
Kyrgios’ stance is admirable and important because most of the tennis world’s biggest voices have remained silent, reinforcing the widely held view that no-one, anywhere is doing a great job enforcing disciplinary standards in a code where player power rules.
In smaller sports like rugby league, media pressures act as behavioural police.
When Josh Addo-Carr and Latrell Mitchell breached social distancing laws during a farm visit they were lampooned by the league fraternity across the back and front pages. Public pressure sent a shudder through the NRL world.
Yet when the alarmingly lax tennis stars were caught out the response was countless disparaging whispers behind cupped hands but, apart from Kyrgios, very little of substance in the public arena.
In the same way that tennis commentators are so polite they often call players by their first name (”Lleyton has been really on song today”) there is very public scorn from them even when it is called for.
We all live in the pandemic called #Covid_19 ! It’s terrible and it killed to many lives...we should protect our families/loved ones and follow the guidelines but still don’t like #rats @NickKyrgios @farfetch
— Boris Becker (@TheBorisBecker) June 30, 2020
Rats? For holding someone accountable? Strange way to think of it champion, I’m just looking out for people. WHEN my family and families all over the world have respectfully done the right thing. And you have a goose waving his arms around, imma say something.
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) June 30, 2020
Kyrgios has been prepared so say on social media what other players would be saying to their partners over breakfast.
The thing that has given Kyrgios’ stance more gravitas has been the measured way he has mixed sarcasm with sincerity like the “great leadership’’ tweet when Goran Ivanisevic called off the troubled tour.
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There has been no sense his rants are the work of someone sitting beside a computer in a lonely hotel room with four empty stubbies beside him looking to pick a fight.
Or that he wants them to drag on and on and play the saintly hero cop.
He is saying what others are thinking and the truly shuddering thought is if he keeps it up we might end up liking him.
Yikes.