Disrespectful. Brats. Knuckleheads. Our young tennis stars have a lot to learn

Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic still have a way to go in matching the ultimate super brats of tennis but they have made a big start as childish boors.

2014 US Open - Day 3

Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic still have a way to go in matching the ultimate super brats of tennis but they have made a big start as childish boors.

As Kyrgios was accused of tanking in his four-set loss to Richard Gasquet yesterday and Tomic was still sulking after being put in the Davis Cup naughty corner for a much more passionate performance against Tennis Australia, their double faults could have been an audition tape for Dumb and Dumber.

What gives with these knuckleheads?

Kyrgios, ranked No. 29 in the world, clearly has an inflated opinion of his own importance.

He has denied not trying against Gasquet immediately after the umpire issued him with code violation, though he clearly made no effort to return serve and lost the second set 6-1.

He could be fined up to $US20,000 for not giving his “best effort” even though he came back to win the third set.

A few days earlier Kyrgios muttered the words “dirty scum” after a heated exchange with umpire Mohamed Lahyani during his first-round win over Argentine Diego Schwartzman.

After winning the match he said the insult was directed at himself and not the referee. He complained that he was under a lot of pressure but at 20, having already earned more money than some people earn in their whole working lives, he has a different take on “pressure” to most.

Last week former Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter said Kyrgios and Tomic both needed to mature.

Tomic, who at 22 has earned more than $3 million in prizemoney and has lived in Monte Carlo, replied with a rant against Rafter and Tennis Australia, saying that he once had to pay for a practice court in Brisbane out of his own kick. Surely as a man ranked 26 in the world — 26 mind you! — he shouldn’t have to pay for anything.

Tennis Australia, who had nurtured Tomic’s career and sponsored him since he was a precocious child on the Gold Coast, had a lot to answer for, he said.

“Where’s the respect,” Tomic whinged as though he was mimicking the carping comic character Guido Hatzis. “Where’s the support to me and my family … where’s the support. Hello.”

Tennis Australia president Steve Healy immediately booted Tomic from the Davis Cup team to play Kazakhstan next week.

“His behaviour was unacceptable,” Healy said. “Playing for our country is an absolute privilege, and with that privilege comes an obligation to behave appropriately.”

What a contrast Tomic and Kyrgios are to the youngsters who once gave Australian tennis a golden image.

Brisbane’s gentlemanly Ashley Cooper, slightly more successful than Tomic and Kyrgios, having won Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open twice, remembered when Australia’s Davis Cup team of the 1950s got 25 shillings a day to pay for laundry and bus and train tickets.

If they misbehaved their coach Harry Hopman would fine them but it taught the players respect, a principle that guided other iconic Aussies Ken Rosewall, Mal Anderson, Neale Fraser, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, John Newcombe and Tony Roche.

Then of course John McEnroe arrived as a tennis game changer in the 1980s, behaving like Basil Fawlty on red cordial.

McEnroe spent a decade deconstructing his psyche in front of millions but there was mirth amid the madness and fans loved it.

“You can’t be serious, man, you cannot be serious,” and “Chalk flew, you jerk,” became catchphrases.

Other players stooped to conquer as well. Umpires brandished garlic and crucifixes as the werewolves came out to play.

Jimmy Connors shocked by simulating a sex act with his racquet and Fritz Buehning, a huge American, had lineswomen reaching for the earmuffs with language much more inventive than his game.

In 1995, Jeff Tarango, in the only match anyone can recall him playing, stormed off at Wimbledon, leaving his wife to slap the umpire across the face. Serena Williams once threatened to shove a tennis ball down a lineswoman’s throat and even Lleyton Hewitt, last week given an emotional send-off in his final Wimbledon, ran foul of officials more than once for his big mouth.

No modern player, though, has come close to the antics of Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, who famously murdered a Roman pimp during a tennis match in 1606.

As their quarrel over a line call intensified, Caravaggio dropped his racquet, drew a sword and sliced open his opponent’s femoral artery while trying to castrate him.

Game Mr Caravaggio. New balls please.

As the troublesome twosome of Australian tennis lick their wounds this week, they will have to learn a valuable lesson.

In the cut and thrust of modern tennis, it’s important to keep your head too.

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Originally published as Disrespectful. Brats. Knuckleheads. Our young tennis stars have a lot to learn