One day, when the last ace has been delivered and the final on-court expletive uttered, Nick Kyrgios might make a good pundit. Outspoken and uncompromising, the intense, brooding Australian has the potential to become the Roy Keane of the tennis world – a celebrated former exponent of the sport who, passing judgment on his peers from the confines of a TV studio, would rarely be more than an ill-timed double fault or a miscued passing shot from an indiscriminate outburst of rage.
Until that time comes, Kyrgios will remain an oddly compelling mix of unbridled arrogance and supreme talent, a boorish irritant whose capacity to offend and appal is counterbalanced by the theatre and unpredictability he brings to the table. With Kyrgios there is always the sense that, regardless of who he is playing, he just might. It is what keeps us watching, albeit often through closed hands.
On Thursday in Indian Wells, Kyrgios just might have ended Rafael Nadal’s unbeaten start to the season at 18 matches rather than losing 7-6 (7-0), 5-7, 6-4. Having safely negotiated his previous 30 service games in the California desert, he might have won a 31st when he served for the opening set at 5-4. Having fought his way back into the match with a frequently exhilarating exhibition of attacking play, the 26-year-old might have converted one of the two break points he held in the second game of the decider and ridden his momentum all the way to the finish line.
“If, if, if,” as Nadal said after beating Kyrgios at Wimbledon three summers ago. “Doesn´t exist. As I said plenty of times, he is a top, talented player, but there are a lot of other important things you need to do to become a champion, no?”
Not to mention some things you don’t need to do. Like throwing your racket to the floor so violently that it bounces up and careers from the chair to the backstop, forcing a ball boy to take evasive action. Like complaining about crowd interruptions but chuntering disrespectfully between your opponent’s first and second serves. Like earning a point penalty at 0-6 down in the first-set tiebreak after telling a spectator to: “Shut the fuck up.” Like aiming a foul-mouthed tirade at the chair umpire after double faulting to concede a break in the seventh game of the decider, however off-putting you may find the mindless jeering of a spectator.
“How long are you going to let that shit go on for?” Kyrgios stormed at Carlos Bernardes. “How long bro? How long? If you did something about it before, maybe it wouldn’t have happened. But it happens again and again. And look at the fucking score! Look at the score! It’s your job to control that, no one else’s.”
Kyrgios was barely less exasperated when asked about the racket-throwing incident afterwards.
“What would you like me to say about it?” he said witheringly. “Was that my intention? No. Because I threw the racket. Did I throw the racket anywhere near him originally? It landed a metre from my foot and skidded and nearly hit him. I’m human. Things happen like that. Obviously, it was a very misfortunate bounce.
“I think if I did that a million times over it wouldn’t have gone that way. And what do you want me to say? It was three metres away from the kid. That’s a question you’re going to say after a three-hour battle against Nadal? That’s what you come here with?”
Kyrgios went on to lament that he had “played three bloody good matches” in Indian Wells, but that everyone would just remember him losing to Nadal and then nearly hitting a ball boy. Not so. The summary fashion in which the Canberran concluded a venomous baseline exchange with a 109mph forehand winner late in the first set will live long in the memory. So too will the athletic brilliance with which he wrapped up the second set, recovering from a stumble as he raced on to a drop shot, conjured a deft angle, and then gracefully steered away a high volley.
Broader impressions will be taken away too. The flicks and feints that came amid the booming serves and thunderous forehands. The underarm serves, one of which was executed to such perfection that Nadal didn’t even attempt to play it. The deadpan way in which Kyrgios took down a vocal spectator by pointing to the Hollywood actor Ben Stiller and enquiring: “Do I tell him how to act? Exactly. So why are you speaking?”
And yes, the impressive manner in which Kyrgios, a wildcard ranked 132 in the world, swept past Federico Delbonis and Casper Ruud, respectively seeded 32nd and eighth, should also be acknowledged. But so too must the recklessness of his actions at the end of the Nadal match, particularly with the memory of Alexander Zverev smashing his racket into an umpire’s chair last month still fresh.
Kyrgios later made contact with the ball boy, apologising and promising to give him a racket.
Nadal looked rattled by Kyrgios’ antics at times but, having worked tirelessly to keep his bid for a fourth title in Indian Wells on track, he reserved fulsome praise for his opponent’s effort.
“The most important part of why we are coming here is to try to play tennis in the best way possible,” said the Spaniard, who claimed he did not see Kyrgios hurl his racket. “I think he did. He fought until the end. He played a great level of tennis. And that’s the Nick Kyrgios that probably I want to see, and the people like to see, no? Because that’s good for tennis.”
Nadal’s reward for his endeavours is a meeting with his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Britain’s Cameron Norrie, the defending champion, 6-4, 6-3 to reach his first Masters 1000 semi-final.
“It’s amazing to play against Rafa,” said Alcaraz, who at 18 is nearly half Nadal’s age. “He’s my idol since I’m a kid, so it’s never easy to play against him, but I think it’s going to be a great match. I think it’s a great experience for me to meet him in a Masters 1000, semi-final here at Indian Wells. I’m going to have fun out there and enjoy every single second in the match. It’s a very special experience for me.”