Australian Open 2025: Tennis is only just realising how much it will miss Nick Kyrgios, writes Joe Barton
Love him or hate him, the Kyrgios effect is undeniable. As JOE BARTON writes, with the Aussie drawcard’s career close to the end, tennis is only just realising what it will miss.
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Nick Kyrgios is gone from the Australian Open, and he might never be back.
And that is a sentence that should send a shudder down the backs of tennis officials around the country.
Kyrgios’ first-round defeat to 23-year-old Scot Jacob Fearnley was a microcosm of his career – a rollercoaster match filled with tweeners, booming serves, injury woes, a frenzied crowd and, ultimately, a finish that left you underwhelmed.
This was the worst version of Kyrgios – not fit to start the match and clearly hampered by injury very early on in the contest.
The brash confidence that has driven him to his highest highs was nowhere to be seen.
But several hours before was a sight that should terrify Australian tennis officials.
It was a queue of thousands waiting to get into John Cain Arena, many who had waited for four hours before the scheduled start time, for a chance to watch Kyrgios’ first-round match.
At the same time, no less than five Australian men were in action on courts dotted around Melbourne Park — but the only match that grabbed the attention of the hordes of fans was the combustible, electric and engaging showman that is Nick Kyrgios.
Kyrgios hasn’t won a grand slam. He made the final eight at Melbourne Park just once, a decade ago.
There are five Aussie men in live action at the #AusOpen , yet thousands are queuing in line for hours to secure a seat for the return of 🇦🇺 Nick Kyrgios.#TheFirstServepic.twitter.com/SKgfQyEGHX
— The First Serve (@TheFirstServeAU) January 13, 2025
But replacing the Kyrgios Effect could prove every bit as difficult as finding a successor to Ash Barty or, indeed, the never-ending search for Australia’s next men’s major champion.
The year Barty won the AO and the Special Ks – Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis – won the doubles, was box office gold for tennis and delivered record TV ratings.
Australian tennis has not come close to those TV figures since.
Kyrgios has floated the idea of an early retirement since before the long injury lay-off that has stalled his career in the past two years, and there were moments on Monday where it looked much closer to reality than fantasy.
You only needed to listen to the roar inside John Cain Arena in the sixth game of the third set as Kyrgios pushed for a break that might trigger an unlikely comeback – Fearnley had tamed the zoo, but all it took was one sizzling Kyrgios forehand to send the full house into a frenzy once more.
That is what tennis – internationally, but particularly in Australia – will find impossible to replace.
He sealed that break. Fans shadow-boxed in the aisles. And for the first time in the match Kyrgios appeared switched on once more.
But it was all in vain, of course, as Kyrgios’ body failed him and the excellent play of Fearnley delivered a well-deserved straight sets entry to the second round.
Australian tennis fans have learned to take much of what Kyrgios says with a grain of salt – be it his pre-tournament confidence or his post-loss explanations for what went wrong.
But when he makes the shocking admission that he may never again play another Australian Open singles match? You have to listen.
It would not surprise at all if in 12 months time Kyrgios has had his arm twisted by tournament organiser Craig Tiley to come back for another singles campaign.
Originally published as Australian Open 2025: Tennis is only just realising how much it will miss Nick Kyrgios, writes Joe Barton