If you’re not watching doubles matches, maybe you should reconsider? Because the Australian Open has thrived thanks to Nick Kyrgios Show.
There has been plenty of criticism towards the Australian Open crowd. The Ronaldo-style “Suiiii” that several players thought was just booos was one thing. And the Kyrgios matches has been heavily influenced by the crowd. Say what you want about Kyrgios’ desire to play professiona tennis sometimes, but he does know how to seduce the audience. Especially an Aussie one. Let’s call it the Nick Kyrgios show.
Kyrgios would probably have preferred to play a team sport. You see it at the Laver Cup and you see it in his doubles matches with his friend Thanasi Kokkinakis. The atmosphere in Kyrgios match against the pair Venuz and Puetz was electric. Yes, it was disturbing Venus/Puetz heavily and it perhaps wasn’t fair, but it showed how exciting doubles/tennis can be if you add some spice to it!
Ps. If you wonder about what racquet Kyrgios uses, click here. Ds
Nick Kyrgios Show
Michael Venus wasn’t thrilled with Nick Kyrgios show and called him an “absolute knob”.
Speaking to New Zealand publication 1News, Venus teed off at the crowd’s behaviour as well as that of Kyrgios.
“It felt like a circus out there, and not really a tennis match,” he said.
“His maturity level, it‘s probably being generous to about a 10-year-old, it’s at about that level.
“The amount of messages I got from people, an extreme amount, way, way more than I‘ve ever had but then a lot of messages from people saying how embarrassed they were with the crowd’s behaviour and they’re sorry, it shouldn’t have been like that.
“They’ll always be his supporters and he’ll spin it in a way that helps him but at the end of the day he’s an absolute knob.”
Is Kyrgios a knob or what tennis needs more of and what do you think of the Australian Open audience in 2022?
4 comments
Tennis needs players like Kyrgios and can do without the sore losers and boring players like Venus. I think the NextGen group of players will reach out to an even larger crowd than the Big 3 did. There will be more players vying for Slam titles and Masters titles than during the Big 3 era due to a deeper talent pool. The new personalities will reach more people that were brought in by the big 3
Kyrgios gives us hope, that tennis is ultimately for human beings and not just for hyper consistent for ball-machine-robots. Wish there’d be more players as ingenious as him.
Hi Tennisnerds
Jonas, you are spot-on regarding the the men’s doubles. Kyrios and Kokkinakis played like they were at a Laver Cup.
Some elements of the crowd that continually booed for no reason to both players should have been taken out by security like the couple I saw for spoiling those wanting to see exciting tennis with a bit of extra life.
Kosta and Moritz are correct and here’s hoping we see a lot more of this type of crowd involvement as there are new sports like paddle ball ready to take over tennis if it stays in the nineteenth century.
I really like Nick as a player, but not sure the recent turn in tennis fan behavior is great for the game. Calling out before serves, cheering opponent misses, etc. is different than enthusiastic support for your preferred player. It’s like Davis Cup crowd behavior (one-sided support for the home team) is now the norm for the tour.
You can make the game more exciting without losing its fair-play quality that makes tennis unique as a sport. If you’re against the traditional “boring” nature of the game then why not try out some stuff from US college tennis (no-ad scoring, etc.) to speed up the game and encourage more aggressive shot making?
I’d rather seem some of these changes than the anything goes mentality that seems to have sprung up in recent fan behavior (and is strangely encouraged by so many as a purely good thing).