Say what you need about Nick Kyrgios, the one factor you possibly can’t argue is he’s placing tennis within the highlight.
Kyrgios might be essentially the most divisive Australian athlete on the planet and his newest transfer solely ruffled extra feathers.
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He blindsided his Aussie teammates by withdrawing from the United Cup on the final minute, mere moments earlier than they stepped out for a press convention.
Australian co-captain Sam Stosur stated she came upon about Kyrgios’ withdrawal simply 10 minutes earlier than the presser. Aussie gamers, together with Alex de Minaur, stated that they had not been advised why Kyrgios had chosen to skip the occasion. Fellow co-captain Lleyton Hewitt delivered a stinging clip to Kyrgios over his lack of communication to the workforce.
Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas, a person who has loads of beef with Kyrgios, advised his rival to “enjoy his holidays”.
The 27-year-old didn’t assist the scenario when he posted simply two hours after his withdrawal. The put up confirmed him having fun with an outing at Sydney’s Darling Harbour with a caption “Beautiful day”. The put up included a laughing emoji.
Despite all of that and all the criticism that regularly will get thrown his approach, Kyrgios is bringing extra eyeballs to the game than anyone else.
As the backlash over his eleventh hour withdrawal continued to pile up, the world quantity 22 hit again at his critics after it was revealed the primary episode of a brand new behind-the-scenes tennis sequence on Netflix can be targeted on him.
“Haha so after all this, all the media, journalism saying how bad I am for the sport, disrespecting the game & just a pure villain, I am going to be the number 1 episode on Netflix … to grow our fan base, basically trying to put tennis on the map again,” Kyrgios tweeted.
“And essentially putting more money in everyone’s pockets that’s involved with tennis, you all look really ridiculous now, your apology should be as loud as your disrespect was.”
Kyrgios regularly will get beneath the pores and skin of followers together with his on-court antics because it’s as a rule identified he doesn’t carry himself like a champion ought to … aka Ash Barty.
But regardless of all the noise, there’s no tennis participant going round proper now that brings extra informal eyeballs to the game than him.
He’s the best showman on the planet with a racquet in his hand. On any given day he could make a few of the greatest on the earth look second fee after which the subsequent he may lose his cool and throw some barbs at his teaching field.
It’s all part of the Nick Kyrgios bundle and it’s due to that he’s, as he says, placing tennis on the map once more.
As the Australian Open attracts nearer to getting underway, Kyrgios’ transfer to withdraw from the United Cup solely amplifies the quantity of individuals that may tune in for his opening spherical encounter.
Whether you like him or hate him, the one frequent denominator in terms of Kyrgios is all people tunes in to observe him when he steps onto the court docket.
He’ll doubtless by no means be a part of the tennis GOAT dialog, however as of proper now there’s no larger drawcard on the tour.
Netflix’s sequence “Breaking Point” is ready to be launched previous to the Australian Open as a glance backstage into the tennis world.
Kyrgios reportedly inked a profitable deal to be part of the sequence which is made by the identical workforce who produced the favored Formula 1 sequence “Drive to Survive”.
The first episode is ready to deal with Kyrgios’ Australian Open marketing campaign and his historic doubles victory with Thanasi Kokkinakis.
The first 5 episodes can be launched on January 13, days earlier than the Australian Open kicks off on January 16.
