Bully, brat or brilliant: Break point for tennis bad boy Kyrgios?

I couldn’t agree more with Janet Albrechtsen’s plea that Wimbledon finally address Nick Kyrgios’ boorish, unsportsmanlike behaviour (“Clickbait brat leaves tennis in a sorry state”, 4/7).

It is outrageous that his constant verbal abuse and intimidation of umpires has been rewarded with the honour of playing on centre court. While the unseeded Kyrgios now plays an unseeded and relatively unknown American on centre court, a match between the 11th- and 19th-seeded players (Alex de Minaur and Taylor Fritz) was not deemed worthy of that honour.

While Russian tennis players are banned from playing Wimbledon due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine it seems that if you engage in Putin-like belligerence on the court then you’re not only welcome, you’re honoured as well.

David Finch, Forestville, SA

Some may brush the third-round match as a dust-up between a couple of tennis hotheads of Greek extraction, but one of them is one of us and he is a serial offender. Janet Albrechtsen says most of it for me.

Any fine for Nick Kyrgios is pocket money and there’s a sense that he is keen to keep the record for the most fined player on the circuit in any event. A ban is the only measure that would resonate. A ban on the basis that he disrespects his opponents, the crowds, the game itself. He seemingly only respects the money. Take that away from him and the penny may drop.

Kim Keogh, East Fremantle, WA

Somehow Janet Albrechtsen watched the tennis match between Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas – where Tsitsipas angrily and deliberately hit the ball at Kyrgios several times, and smacked a ball directly at a spectator – but still concludes that Kyrgios should be thrown out of Wimbledon. It’s OK for Tsitsipas, because he apologised and had been “bullied”.

In Mexico earlier this year, Alexander Zverev violently smashed his tennis racquet on the umpire’s chair, an act akin to assault, yet this has either escaped most people’s notice or been quickly forgotten.

Kyrgios is flawed, no doubt. He argues and complains too much. But his actions have never reached the level of Zverev or Tsitsipas. And if you don’t like spoiled or complaining sports stars, then there may not be much professional sport left to watch. If we keep applying Albrechtsen’s standards, then we might also have to start cancelling films and books by “boorish” and “loutish” artists.

For tennis fans, Kyrgios is a joy to watch. A sublime talent, with the full range of tennis shots. I will be cheering him on at Wimbledon and beyond.

Paul Alexander, Melbourne

Vaxxing up

The Covid third wave is now upon us, the media have had to give up on their medical beat-ups of monkeypox and Japanese encephalitis, and return to the boring old pandemic.

An ongoing concern, buried by the furious anti-vaxxer campaigns, is the persistence of old-fashioned childhood disease. It is only three years ago we had a measles outbreak in Australia and we now, for the first time in 100 years, have cases of diphtheria in NSW (“Diphtheria strikes 2 children”, 4/7). These diseases, which are still killers of children, occur in those misguided areas where childhood vaccination is denied; the Northern Rivers area, and (no surprise) particularly hippie Nimbin, are the anti-vaxxers’ terrain and where these unnecessary contagions occurred.

Amid all the vaccine misinformation, this should be a reminder of its longstanding benefits.

Dr Graham Pinn, Maroochydore, Qld

Voicing concerns

Fred Chaney and Bill Gray in their opinion piece (“Keep it simple: how best to design a voice referendum”, 2-3/7) make a strong case. But why not make it even simpler?

Why not find out whether Australians as a whole think it appropriate to make special constitutional provision for an ethnic, religious or, for that matter, any other particular group. We need to be careful not to be setting a discriminating and possibly divisive precedent.

Robert Clayton, Hermit Park, Qld

Numbers game

Why would the Liberal Party need quotas for women when all the party needs is strong, intelligent and hardworking candidates of whatever gender (“Liberal women: it’s time to push for quotas”, 4/7)?

Frankly, quotas are an insult, and any woman who is selected for that reason should feel demeaned.

There have only been two female leaders who were outstanding, both prime ministers, Britain’s Margaret Thatcher and India’s Indira Gandhi.

These were strong and impressive women, and I doubt we will ever see their like again.

Lesley Beckhouse, Queanbeyan, NSW