In the ultimate example of the inmates running the asylum, John McEnroe has said he knows just the recipe to push the enigmatic Nick Kyrgios to the next level.
Despite his obvious and prodigious talent, Kyrgios can be mercurial at times and give every appearance of not caring what becomes of his career. There was the suspension for tanking in a tournament in China, and then there was the occasion where he pulled out of a tournament in his home town of Brisbane to make himself available for a celebrity all-star game on the weekend of the NBA All Star game, which, by the way, he was shunned.
Anyone of a certain age and an interest in tennis can recall McEnroe’s on-court antics, at a time when tennis players were the ultimate definition of the term “taciturn.”
Now, just as then, McEnroe is the ultimate definition of the term “outspoken.” He has taken his left-handed sledge to Kyrgios on more than on occasion, including an incident where Kyrgios engaged in what, in McEnroe’s words, was a display of “boneheaded” showmanship during a 2015 loss to Andy Murray in the U.S. Open and another loss to Murray at Wimbledon last year where he concluded that, “(Kyrgios is) not doing our sport any good.”
Despite his low opinion, however, McEnroe thinks Kyrgios “is the best positioned” on the up-and-coming youngsters to win Wimbledon in a month’s time.
McEnroe sees himself as a part-time consultant to Kyrgios and he made his most recent offer of mentoring Kyrgios while he served in his role as commentator for Eurosport at the French Open in Paris.
Kyrgios and McEnroe would make strange bedfellows, indeed, although McEnroe has said that there is nothing wrong with that in his recent response to Margaret Court when she said that she was against same-sex marriage being legally endorsed in Australia.
