Nick Kyrgios cops a serve from Rod Laver over tantrums

Nick Kyrgios has copped a serve from legendary Australian player Rod Laver, who was recognised at a celebration in New York.

He’s Australia’s “greatest sporting ambassador”, who is currently celebrating the 50th anniversary of becoming the only tennis player in history to sweep two Grand Slams.

But the advice Rod Laver passes on to those who ask the secret to a perfect game of tennis is remarkably simple.

“If the ball’s there, you give it a nudge,” Mr Laver offers.

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Former tennis player Rod Laver was recognised at a celebration at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Picture: AAP

Mr Laver, 81, was recognised at a celebration at New York’s Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, local time.

In town for the US Open, he said he was humbled for the continuing recognition of winning the Australian, French, British and US Open championships in 1962 and 1969.

No male tennis player has taken a Grand Slam series since.

The humble Laver also gave his assessment of Australian tennis including the controversial Nick Kyrgios, currently ranked 30th in the world.

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Rod Laver returns the ball during Wimbledon’s men's singles final against compatriot Tony Roche in 1968. Picture: AFP

Mr Laver offered that he thinks Kyrgios has the talent to become world champion, but not the right attitude.

“He won a tournament about a month ago, so potentially he has it in him, but he has to control his ability to play matches on the court, and you know, not get too wrapped up in outside interferences,” Mr Laver said.

Mr Laver said Kyrgios, 24, was “not a youth anymore” and getting too old to blame his age for his outbursts.

“I don’t know if he’s deliberately aiming for publicity or whether he’s aiming at individual things that he wants to accomplish,but that’s the one thing he lacks, is discipline,” Laver added.

“And if he gotsome discipline, then most things come pretty simple.

“You don’t interfere with your talent and that’s what he’s doing, isinterfering with his own ability.”

Arguably tennis’s greatest ever player, Laver said “you’d have to be superhuman” to take on the role of coaching Kyrgios.

But the 11-times major champion does see plenty of upside to Kyrgios’s game - if only the mercurial star could earn to controlhis emotions. “He’s got probably the best serve in the game and so he knows how to win, but he has to apply himself and that’sthe one thing that’s been a problem for him,” Laver said.

“Tennis is a mental game in many ways and he’s letting too many things get into the game of tennis.”

Nick Kyrgios is getting too old to blame his age for his outbursts, says Rod Laver. Picture: George Salpigtidis

The legendary player admitted he was disappointed at Australia’s showing in the 2019 US Open and that he had expected world number one, Ash Barty to reach the finals.

“Unfortunately Ash Barty lost early but I thought she may have been able to go out there and do it,” Mr Laver said.

“For the ladies, we can’t go past Serena (Williams). I mean, Serena has been out practising a little more and I think she’s won so many tournaments without practising.

“Each match she plays, that’s her practice, it’s amazing to see how good she is.

“When she’s in trouble she can pull off unbelievable shots.”

Rod Laver says he expected Ash Barty to reach the finals of the 2019 US Open. Picture: Getty Images

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For the men’s title, he predicts that if it’s Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer match-up, then Nadal is “probably a little big edged above Roger”.

Mr Laver, who mainly played grass courts with a “little old wooden racket”, said much had changed in tennis.

He described modern players as far more physical and said that more is asked of them.

“Even just the rallying that goes on, there are 20 to 30 hits in a rally now, you’ve got to be very talented but also you’ve got to be the fittest,” he said.

Rod Laver stretches to play a backhand return against Netherlands' Tom Okker during their men's singles match at the championships in Wimbledon in 1971. Picture: AFP

Australia’s Consul General in New York, Alistair Walton, praised Mr Laver as “a role model for our country but also for the game of tennis itself”.

“When you look at the dominance today of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer and to think they have won several Grand Slams themselves, but no-one has actually done what Rod has done for 50 years,” Mr Walton said.

Among the attendees at the lunch were actor Deborra-Lee Furness, world champion wheelchair tennis player Dylan Alcott and former tennis player Wally Masur, who related the story about Mr Laver’s advice to give the ball “a nudge”.

-WITH ADDITIONAL QUOTES FROM AAP