Paul McNamee sees echoes of Pat Cash in the appeal of Nick Kyrgios

Paul McNamee sees something of the Pat Cash experience in how fans react to Nick Kyrgios.

Nick Kyrgios serves to Grigor Dimitrov in his straights victory at Kooyong on Thursday. Picture: Michael Klein

Australian doubles legend Paul McNamee has compared the public perception of Nick Kyrgios to that of his former Davis Cup teammate Pat Cash.

Kyrgios, who rounded out his Australian Open preparation with a solid 6-4 6-2 win over Grigor Dimitrov at Kooyong on Thursday, reminds McNamee of the 1987 Wimbledon champion .

“He is so popular with young people because he is revolutionary. He is radical. And they love that,” McNamee said. “His popularity outside Australia is much better than inside … To be honest, Cashy got that (as well). He is a rock star in Britain. Here, there is a little bit of polarisation. Pat would be the first to admit that.”

There will have been Australians over the past fortnight who are reconsidering their own estimation of the enigmatic Kyrgios given his good form and behaviour on and off the court.

The 24-year-old’s use of social media has landed him in strife in the past, ­including the crack he had at Davis Cup and ATP Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt during a summer of simmering tension 12 months ago.

But his recent tweet during the ATP Cup in Brisbane, in which he called on tennis players and other athletes to raise funds to assist with the bushfire crisis, proved a clear ace.

As it did for many Australians, the crisis hit him hard. His home city of Canberra was clouded by smoke for weeks. And the 2014 Wimbledon quarter-finalist had close friends who were forced to evacuate the NSW south coast amid the chaos.

By the time the world No 26 walked off Rod Laver Arena after the Rally for Relief on Wednesday night, almost $5m had been raised by the stars of the tennis circuit.

Even the most ­begrudging ­critic would be hard-pressed to curse Kyrgios on this occasion.

“It has been an emotional couple of weeks for me, couple of months, to be honest,” Kyrgios said during a courtside interview on SBS on Thursday.

“For me, all I am doing, all I am playing for is that (raising funds). Yes, there is the Australian Open but it is much bigger than that for me at the moment. I am just happy to come out here and hit some more aces and compete.”

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On that front, the magnificent server struck 13 aces against Dimitrov. This takes his tally this month to 82, which, with his pledge of $200 an ace, guarantees the Australian will contribute at least another $16,200 towards the fundraising effort.

The good deeds will not convince everyone and the real pressure for Kyrgios, at least in regards to his behaviour, will come at the Australian Open.

Kyrgios, who is playing on probation for repeated disciplinary problems last year, has tended to excel in team events or exhibition events such as Kooyong.

This was definitely the case against Dimitrov, with the match a far cry from the circus he was a part of against Bernard Tomic in the same event last year.

Both were bounced out of the 2019 Australian Open in the opening round but the furore that followed certainly did when Tomic unloaded on Hewitt.

Kyrgios was mischievous, at best, on social media in regards to the former world No 1. On return, Hewitt wrote Tomic out of his life. Kyrgios, he said, could be ­redeemed. And that seems to be the case so far this summer.

Dimitrov, a US Open semi-­finalist four months ago, treated Thursday’s Kooyong outing as business and Kyrgios responded in kind. He produced tennis of such sustained quality that it was Dimitrov who dropped away the longer the match progressed.

After seizing a break at 4-all with a sizzling backhand winner, Kyrgios raced away with the match.

So far, so good for the Australian, who credited his participation in the ATP Cup as a morale-boosting exercise.

“I feel like it is a new year and a clean slate. I was putting in a lot of work back home,” he said.

With Alex de Minaur out of the Australian Open, the focus will ­return to Kyrgios, a quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park in 2015.

“Looking back at 2019, it was a very tough year for me, on and off the court, to be honest,” he said.

“This year I just want to take a positive outlook, whether I lose first round or I make a run. The way I am playing now, I feel like I can make some strides into the tournament, but I am not even thinking about that right now.”