Wild Child: Does Nick Kyrgios Even Care About Tennis?

At this year’s Australian Open, it seems that maybe—maybe—Kyrgios, age 22, is growing up. He hasn’t trained like a maniac, but he did work harder than usual leading up to the Open. He’s still complaining to fans and umpires, and being fined for dirty language on court, but so far, he’s not letting all of that ruin his game. More than anything, he’s reminding us that against the top players in the sport, he tends to play the best he can. It’s an unusual quality, one that has helped him beat Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic in the past, a pile of victories that very few people his age—or nearly any age—can claim.

Now, starting in the fourth round, we get to see if Kyrgios is truly on his way. His next match comes against Grigor Dimitrov, the 26-year-old from Bulgaria who has worked hard enough lately to improve his ranking to No. 3 in the world. This could be one of the finest matches of the tournament—or a blowout, or full chaos with unwelcome comments and temper flares. With Kyrgios, anything can happen. It’s a matter of his mood, his swings, and his frustration, which he seems to be controlling better—for now.

Of all the young players in the game today, Kyrgios stands out. He’s built big, like an NFL wide receiver, standing at 6’4” and running (and sliding) with ease. His serve is deadly. He hit 28 aces against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in his last match, and he goes for his second serve—with speed and aim-at-the-line risk—more than most players. His forehand often sounds like he wrecked the ball, as if he put a firecracker inside.

All that and you think, because he often does so poorly, that he doesn’t care. But if you keep your ear on Kyrgios’s words, the opposite seems more true. Listen to him talking about his earlier match against Viktor Troicki, the competitive pro from Serbia. “When he broke back in the third set, I started freaking out a little bit,” Kyrgios said. Against Tsonga, Kyrgios said he was “very nervous going out there today.” At times, it showed.

Let’s step back for a moment. Nick Kyrgios, the player many think doesn’t care enough about tennis, gets nervous when he competes. How can both of those be a part of him, and if they are, which one is more true—or more often used or fought against? Is he using “I don’t know about fully engaging” as an excuse, a way to make it seem like he could do whatever he wants to do in the tennis world, if he cared? Maybe he isn’t good enough to succeed. (I believe he is, but pretty much everyone has that fear, in everything.) It’s hard to say, but no matter what, Kyrgios is a lot more complicated than people tend to believe. His days, and matches, can vary a lot, and sometimes everything he does is a mess. But if he stays mostly calm—and eager—look out.

I could well be wrong, but for the first time, I am expecting a lot from Kyrgios in a Grand Slam. He looks different and Dimitrov, as well as he played at the end of his last match, isn’t hitting his best, especially on his backhand side. If Kyrgios can beat him, he would next face an unseeded player, and then perhaps Nadal in the semifinals. Kyrgios has never reached a Grand Slam semifinal before.

And if Kyrgios’s big Slam breakthrough doesn’t happen here? Well, I’ll be shocked if it never happens, no matter his attitude. Remember Marat Safin? It’s tough to think of a man whose consistency, and work ethic, were more inconsistent. Yet he had so much talent that he won two Grand Slam titles, including the 2005 Australian Open.

An Australian man hasn’t won his home Slam in singles since Mark Edmondson in 1976. That’s a long time ago and I bet Kyrgios doesn’t think much about it. But he would love to win, no matter what he says about the true value of tennis. I think, for him, it’s really worth a lot more than he’s willing to say.