Nick Kyrgios plays with a level of exuberance that all sports need. Photo / Getty
Nick Kyrgios plays with a level of exuberance that all sports need. Photo / Getty
OPINION:
Kris Shannon runs through five reasons why Nick Kyrgios is the best thing about men's tennis.
1. It's fun to root for an Aussie for once
The emotions of love and hate are closely linked in the human brain. Studies have shown those two feelings of intense passion sharesome of the same nervous circuits, meaning there's little biological difference whether the feeling is positive or negative.
Sometimes I think about that when watching, I dunno, David Warner bat. Maybe any antipathy towards our neighbours is only a few degrees removed from admiration.
Not for all of them, of course. Certainly not for Warner. Good God no, not Warner.
But for someone like Nick Kyrgios, who embodies many qualities we rarely see in Kiwi athletes, it's worth considering why he makes people hot and bothered.
Kyrgios can come across as brash. He's undoubtedly bold. And it's possible his confidence could be taken as arrogance. Funnily enough, those attributes are present in so many of our favourite Aussie foes.
It's easy to see why Kyrgios, like his compatriots, inspires such passion in the stands. He must be a lot of fun to support.
Fans are especially treated whenever Kyrgios is locked in on the court. His raw talent has never been questioned, even if he does at times appear destined to sit atop lists offering that backhanded compliment of 'best player to never win a slam'.
Pulling back from that cold-hearted pursuit of results and remembering how watching sport can be entertaining even without trophies being handed out at the end…who cares about those silly little lists?
Kyrgios plays with power and flair, regularly in the same point, setting up an opponent with one of the tour's best second serves before finishing them off with a delicate slice.
He's always aggressive, sometimes to his detriment, and his desire to quickly finish points leads to winners on both sides of the net.
He may in the past have said he doesn't "really like the sport of tennis that much", but he sure does suit it.
Kyrgios' serve is a weapon - over or underhand. Photo / Getty
3. …even underarm
What's the best shot in men's tennis? Federer's forehand? Djokovic's two-handed backhand? How about Kyrgios' underarm serve?
Ignoring the obvious joke about an Australian employing underhanded tactics, there's little in tennis more thrilling than when Kyrgios quickly shifts from a normal serving motion and unleashes a cheeky little slice that often catches out his opponent.
It's a shot that captures his personality and speaks to the same attitude that compels him to play unnecessary tweeners in the middle of a point.
Both the tweener and the serve are about far more than mere showmanship, though. Kyrgios knows plenty about getting in a tennis player's head - instead of his own, this time he's knocking his rival out of a rhythm.
And who doesn't want to see tennis' at-times robotic rhythms disrupted by something out of the ordinary? Innovation is good, unless you're Jeff Bezos playing spaceman.
4. The chat
Whether to himself, his opponent, the umpire, his coaches' box, a fan, a line judge, his racket, or nothing at all, Kyrgios is always talking.
In a sport as oddly committed to silence as tennis, his chat can enliven even the most placid of matches.
And thankfully for journos more bored than anyone by athlete platitudes and cliches, Kyrgios keeps on talking once he's outside the lines, and as a nice bonus what he says makes sense.
"Tennis has done a really poor job with accepting personalities in the past," the 26-year-old said earlier in the week. "I think they've really only marketed three players for the last decade and now it's caught up with them."
That's especially true at this tournament, where one of that trio was forced to pull out through injury and another was forced by the courts to be leave Australia.
Tennis needs the chat of players like Kyrgios. Every sport does.
Kyrgios is often engaged in a colourful dialogue with the fans. Photo / Getty
5. His opponents want to fight him
With apologies to Michael Venus, not many people can make doubles interesting.
Kyrgios, though, has turned the oft-ignored section at this Australian Open into performance theatre. Or maybe professional wrestling is more apt, considering his opponents apparently want to fight him.
Not to condone violence, but stoushes always make great sport, especially when those involved then tell everyone all about it on Twitter.
"Just letting you know after yesterday's chop fest in doubles my opponents coach and trainer proceeded to threaten to fight in the players gym," Kyrgios posted after his and Thanasi Kokkinakis's upset win over Croatian top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic.
Kokkinakis then replied: "that was crazy!! Mans thought it was @ufc."
Mans thought it was UFC, indeed. Anyone who can inspire words like must have something going for him.
