Nick Kyrgios never sounds more absurd than when he slanders his superiors in Australian tennis. The triumphs of Pat Cash, Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt dwarf the achievement that Kyrgios seems most proud of … being in the most disappointing Netflix documentary in the history of Netflix documentaries … and he does himself a laughable disservice by making enemies of these blokes.
Down, Pats. Cash and Rafter have previously attempted to help Kyrgios but now he treats them like he treats pretty much every past Australian player. Like pieces of dirt on his shoe. He sees himself above and beyond them all and yet, and yet, he hasn’t come close to matching their deeds or levels of respect.
Kyrgios rarely, if ever, plays for Australia in Davis Cup, ditched the Olympics, withdrew from the United Cup last week and then complains about a lack of support at home.
Cash is among those scratching his head. “It’s beyond my ability to be able to understand what’s going on in Nick Kyrgios’ head,” he told SEN on Thursday.
“I think he’s a good kid and he means well, but you can’t have it both ways. You can’t say, ‘Oh I’ve done this stuff for charity, but I won’t represent my country, why won’t you love me? I behave like an idiot and then wait a minute I donate some money, I’m a nice guy. I think he means well and we should always give him the benefit of the doubt in the end.”
Kyrgios has long been at loggerheads with Rafter, the two-time US Open champion and ex-World No.1, and Cash, the Wimbledon victor and former World No.4. He’s fresh off last week’s sniping at Lleyton Hewitt.
On matters concerning tennis, on any given day of the week, give me the viewpoints and credentials of Hewitt, Cash, Rafter over Kyrgios and his social media showboating.
Rafter has merely stated the bleeding obvious, recalling the locker room dissent during Kyrgios’ wild doubles run at last year’s Open. Rafter is “clueless,” says Kyrgios, which is news to some.
Cash, meanwhile, reckons it’s wrong for Tennis Australia to be staging Friday night’s charity practice match between Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic at Rod Laver Arena.
“In what country, in what grand slam – would you have Wimbledon suddenly pulling out Centre Court or Court 1 because Andy Murray needed a practice match?” he said. “They’ve bent over backwards to help Nick get some matches and to do this, I don’t know.”
Kyrgios has always been less willing to fire back at Cash, the more abrasive of the Pats. It was Cash who took Kyrgios to task for his heavily-fined behaviour last year at Wimbledon, saying: “It was absolute mayhem. He should have been defaulted. Something’s got to be done about it. It’s just an absolute circus. He has brought tennis to the lowest level I can see as far as gamesmanship, cheating, manipulation, abuse.”
If Cash is right and Kyrgios is indeed getting a helping hand from Tennis Australia, including quick balls and fast courts that will be right up his alley at the Open, one thing that could not be manufactured on Thursday was the draw.
The tradition is to nominate someone’s “horror” bracketing as feverishly as we simply must find a Group of Death at a football World Cup.
The most humorous over-dramatisation was Ash Barty’s supposedly nightmare path at Wimbledon in 2021. Barty didn’t have a horror draw. She was the horror draw for everyone else in her path. She won the Venus Rosewater Dish and did what Venus Williams is yet to do. Retire.
Sound the trumpets, blow the horns – Kyrgios was lined up against Russian Roman Safiullin. Sorry, Safiullin isn’t Russian. According to Open rules, he’s from Neutral. The 25-year-old Neutral is a handy player but Kyrgios is likely to blow him to smithereens.
Round two is a potentially tricky assignment against France’s Ugo Humbert, who pushed Kyrgios to a five-set thriller at Wimbledon in 2021. Then comes ninth-seeded teen Holger Rune, and then fifth-seeded Neutral Andrey Rublev, and if he gets through all that … Djokovic is likely to be waiting for him in the quarter-finals.
“I am one of the best players in the world,” Kyrgios said. “I’m definitely going to go into any tournament, the Australian Open, with confidence, and I think I’ve proven I can go deep at a grand slam. So hopefully … with Australia on my back, it can be a good couple of weeks.”
The two folks who did get horror draws were defending champion Rafael Nadal and unseeded Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. Nadal wanted a few easy matches against nobodies or Neutrals to settle into the tournament.
The gifted young Brit Jack Draper was not what he was after. That will be tricky and icky. Tomljanovic has a soft start against World No.192 Nadia Podoroska but in the next three rounds she can expect ex-world No.1 Victoria Azarenka, 10th-seeded Madison Keys and sixth-seeded Maria Sakkari.
The Kooyong Classic, normally an exercise of dubious relevance featuring forgettable players in meaningless matches, wrapped up in Melbourne just before the draw came out. Alex de Minaur versus Andy Murray popped up as a fixture worth watching. They could play darts at a Richmond pub and turn it into a sweat-soaked, heart-pounding rumble.
Murray peaked last decade. Major surgeries and a hip replacement have done him in but the 35-year-old gave a nice answer this week as to why he’s still playing. Like a lot of people here, Murray said, I just really enjoy the feeling of hitting a tennis ball. Lovely.
If there’s anyone more enthusiastic than Murray about the bliss and splendour to be found in finding the middle of the strings it’s de Minaur. The Australian is 12 years younger, 12 years fitter, 12 years faster, 12 years more agile, 12 years more everything but Murray won in straight sets. Bullseye.
Murray still looked like he needed to be sprayed with WD-40 to get moving but it was enjoyable viewing – not the least because of Cash’s considered, humorous, knowledgeable commentary. De Minaur gets a qualifier in the first round at the Open. Dream draw! Murray has powerhouse Italian Matteo Berrettini. The horror.
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