How Nick Kyrgios plans to win over fans at Brisbane International
NICK Kyrgios was booed from court by a significant part of a Melbourne Park crowd at his most recent Australian tournament but the polarising star has a simple plan to won over home fans.
NICK Kyrgios is confident the Brisbane International’s crowds will get behind him at his debut at the tournament if he can give them success.
The polarising Kyrgios was booed from court by a significant part of a Melbourne Park crowd at his most recent Australian tournament, allowing after his second round loss to Italian Andreas Seppi that it was “not the greatest thing to hear’’.
Kyrgios picked up two code violations - for an audible obscenity and racquet abuse in a match - which followed an unwelcome pattern of him having become worn down emotionally and physically over five sets at Grand Slam level.
The supportive reactions towards the Australian No.1 in his two wins at Brisbane’s Pat Rafter Arena at the Davis Cup tie against the United States three months later was noticeable.
“I know if I win I will probably have a good crowd,’’ Kyrgios said this week during practice in Brisbane before a short break in Canberra for Christmas.
“It’s good to come back to Brisbane - I had good memories here from Davis Cup.
“I’ve done off seasons here (the Queensland Tennis Centre) a couple of times. I feel comfortable here.’’
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Kyrgios, 22, went into the 2017 Australian Open with a deterioration of a knee injury suffered in off-season basketball sessions and the world No.21 said he learnt from the experience that basketball “isn’t great for my body’’.
Kyrgios lost finals in the second half of the season to Grigor Dimitrov in Cincinnati and world No.1 Rafael Nadal in Beijing - the top two seeds at the Brisbane International, which starts Sunday week.
Kyrgios’s career win-loss records against most of the top players is enviable. He is 2-3 against Nadal, 1-1 against Roger Federer, 2-0 against Novak Djokovic, 2-2 against Stan Wawrinka, 3-1 against Alex Zverev and 0-5 against Andy Murray.
Anyone doubting how much the prospective fourth seed for the Brisbane International sometimes cares about his tennis might have changed their mind this week when he spoke about his two wins over 12-time major winner Djokovic this year.
“The Indian Wells win (in March) after I beat him in Acapulco, people were saying it was a fluke. I saw him in the draw (in Indian Wells) and though, ‘Well, I’m going to do it again’,’’ Kyrgios said.
“It felt like I gained a lot of confidence from that.
“I watched Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, and Murray play when I was younger. I guess for me it’s the matches on the back-courts, playing guys not ranked so great, those are the ones that are harder to get up for. To play guys like Roger at centre court at Miami was one of the best matches.’’
Originally published as How Nick Kyrgios plans to win over fans at Brisbane International
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