Immature, distasteful, offensive ... classless: Kyrgios serves up another drama

Here we are again.

Nick Kyrgios is still not back playing tennis competitively, but he is back demeaning women – and continuing his crusade against world No.1 Jannik Sinner.

And all the while beating his chest and telling anyone who will listen that he is the greatest thing to happen to tennis, or probably anything.

Nick Kygios at the US Open, where he was commentating for ESPN.Credit: Getty Images

What is that saying about not having to tell everyone you are good if you are actually good?

In a tweet he has since deleted after significant backlash, Kyrgios posted the words “second serve” under a photo of him and Russian tennis player Anna Kalinskaya – now Sinner’s girlfriend – at an NBA game four years ago. This was on form for a person who once told Stan Wawrinka mid-match that “Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend”.

It does not take a great leap to figure out what Kyrgios, who hates being criticised but loves criticising others, is suggesting about Kalinskaya.

Anna Kalinskaya watches her partner Jannik Sinner in his US Open singles semi-final against Great Britain’s Jack Draper.Credit: AP

Kyrgios apologised on social media after the Wawrinka scandal, regarding Croatian player Donna Vekic, saying his comments were “in the heat of the moment” but “unacceptable on many levels”.

Here we are nine years later, and the now 29-year-old remains immature, distasteful, offensive and comically unaware of his classless behaviour despite having a sister, mother and girlfriend he could, and should, learn from.

Or even his friend and fellow player Naomi Osaka, whose Evolve agency he became the first client for two years ago. Kyrgios might respect those four women, but has a track record of disrespecting women in general.

There is unlikely to be an apology this time around, given he wrote in a subsequent tweet that it’s “hilarious” that people get “triggered” with “a couple of words”.

Many social media users have called for Kyrgios’ US Open commentary employer, ESPN, to dump him. Of course, they won’t because they see him as a cash cow who can help them for a fortnight.

Kyrgios has also written columns for this masthead during the Australian Open.

This is the same serial apologiser who pled guilty early last year to shoving his ex-partner to the ground in a late-night incident – but not before unsuccessfully trying to get the case thrown out on mental health grounds. Magistrate Beth Campbell found Kyrgios was not mentally impaired, or suffering from depression.

“I was not in a good place when this happened, and I reacted to a difficult situation in a way I deeply regret. I know it wasn’t OK, and I’m sincerely sorry for the hurt I caused,” Kyrgios said after the court ruling.

Kyrgios and Sinner after a match in Miami in 2022.Credit: Getty Images

“Mental health is tough. Life can seem overwhelming. But I’ve found that getting help and working on myself has allowed me to feel better and to be better.”

Kyrgios is as excellent at offering faux apologies as he is cocksure and hubristic.

The saddest part about the whole situation is that Kyrgios is (was?) a highly entertaining and gifted tennis player with remarkably easy power and one of the best serves ever, and someone who could turn even the most routine match into a must-watch occasion.

Somewhere along the way, Kyrgios became so emboldened by his popularity and defiant against his critics that he decided he could get away with almost anything.

Nick Kyrgios interviews Novak Djokovic on court at this year’s Australian Open.Credit: Getty

He is also one of those individuals who pretend not to care what people think, yet desperately hunts for anything said – positively or negatively – about him, including searching for his own name on ‘X’.

Self-righteousness is another Kyrgios quality.

He has been the most vocal critic of Sinner avoiding suspension for twice testing positive to banned steroid clostebol, calling the decision “ridiculous” and saying anyone in his situation “should be gone for two years”.

Kyrgios’ stance typically lacked nuance and deeper thought.

He did not buy Sinner’s explanation that the positive tests came about inadvertently from his physiotherapist, who was performing regular full-body massages on him while using a healing spray to treat a cut.

An independent panel also deemed the amount of clostebol in Sinner’s system – a billionth of a gram – had no performance-enhancing effect.

After one of his followers politely asked whether the rules were too strict and if a player should be punished if they had no knowledge of how an illegal substance entered their system, Kyrgios mocked them and called them “a potato” for believing the explanation, insinuating that Sinner was a drug cheat.

That interaction summed Kyrgios up perfectly. Even when he tries to do good, or thinks he is doing good, he goes about it the wrong way.

Catherine Whitaker, a co-host on The Tennis Podcast, nailed it two years ago when she commented on Kyrgios’ abrasiveness while he discussed the abuse athletes endure on social media. And, yes, it is amusing that Kyrgios, of all people, complains about people saying hurtful things to him.

“It really upsets me that he can’t make that point logically and sort of leave it there, or let it lead to somewhere logical or interesting or productive,” Whitaker said at the time.

“Because what he actually does is make that point and then, in his head, pretty much use it to justify any behaviour both on the court and in the press room afterwards.”

And on social media, it seems.

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