Nick Kyrgios could have reached his potential earlier with a full-time coach, Pat Cash says

NICK Kyrgios is one of the favourites for the Australian Open but Australian tennis great Pat Cash says he could have been where is today two years ago had he hired a full-time coach.

Nick Kyrgios will play No.3 seed Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round. Picture: Michael Klein

AUSTRALIAN tennis great Pat Cash says Nick Kyrgios’ decision not to hire a full-time coach has cost him two years of his career.

The star 22-year-old has reached great heights without a full-time coach, reaching a career-high ranking of No.13 in the world in 2016, but the criticism has been he’s lacked the mentor to elevate his game even further.

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Kyrgios is one of the favourites to claim his first grand slam title at the Australian Open but must first meet No.3 seed Grigor Dimitrov in a blockbuster fourth round clash tonight.

This week eight-time grand slam champion Andre Agassi, who is currently working with Novak Djokovic, said it’s better not to have a coach than the wrong coach.

The No.17 seed’s performances at the Australian Open so far, and Brisbane International earlier this month, have shown he is maturing — there has barely been a blow up in sight — but Cash believes had Kyrgios looked for a full-time mentor he could have fulfilled his talent earlier.

Nick Kyrgios hits a ‘tweener’ against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Picture: Michael Klein

Nick Kyrgios is one of the favourites to win the Australian Open. Picture: Michael Klein

“If you look at Nick’s history, you just wonder whether a lot of these things could have been avoided,” Cash told SEN of the Australian No.1.

“Andre’s right, it’s better having no coach than the wrong coach. But a good coach would have advised to see a sports psychologist and advised him along the way on what to do with the training.

“Nick could be where he’s at at the moment two years ago. In many ways I think he’s missed out on two years of his career.

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“But the other thing is you have to bond with your coach, you’ve got to have the right chemistry and vice versa.

“I’ve said this before about Bernie Tomic, a top coach won’t put up with the stuff that’s been going on.

“Nick is trying to change his ways, we’ll see what happens tonight, it’s going to be a big match, we’ll see what happens.

Nick Kyrgios will play No.3 seed Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round. Picture: Michael Klein

“More importantly when he gets away from Australia and the media and the fans at home aren’t on his back or supporting him, see how he goes then.

“He’ll still have his moments there’s no doubt, throughout the year where he’ll go into attack mode and lose his temper and whatever but by and large he’s getting the hang of it and he’s able to deal with it when it gets tense.”

Kyrgios won his first title on Australian soil in Brisbane and has saved some of his best performances for Melbourne, where he made the quarterfinal in 2016.

Seven-time grand slam champion John McEnroe is among the greats to heap praise on Kyrgios this week, believing the Aussie can win his first grand slam in Melbourne.

“He is saying all the right things, he seems to be going in the right direction — he’s the biggest talent I have seen in the last 10 years,” McEnroe said.

Nick Kyrgios and John McEnroe at the Laver Cup. Picture: Getty

“I’ve given some pretty good advice on where he can make life easier for himself and where he’s made it hard for himself and I certainly know a bit about that.

“He is still young and you peak a lot younger in tennis. There is time for him.

“He could do something real big real soon. He has the talent to win this right now. (But) I don’t know if mentally or physically he could go the distance.

“I don’t know mentally if he is ready or physically if he can go the distance yet but I’d love to see it.”

But McEnroe wants to see more emotion from Kyrgios.

“He is flatlining a little bit,” he told Channel 7. “I would like to see more emotion from him and the crowd could feed off that.

“I like the way that he fought in Brisbane. Two or three of the matches he was a set down and he won. That is a good sign.”