Tennis: Sledging: Kyrgios............has Tennis finally got some colour?

[Ken Gargett]

You guys are tough.

It's a business and he's trying to get every advantage he can. Of course it's classless and crude, but if it comes down to an extra zero on a paycheck I bet most of you would go even further.

shlomo. i don't think so. never know, of course, until we are in that position.

but if we take your point that it is a business, then this is really dumb. he, and many players, can make a lot of money from sponsorships and corporate gigs etc etc. he is ruling himself out of these. no one here wants to touch him. he has, by his actions, cost himself significant money. and we need to remember that it is not as though he is earning truckloads as a tennis player. depending what site you look at, he has earnt between half a mill to 1.5 mill. it seems to be around one mill. not bad but the costs are extremely high. he'd hardly be broke but he ain't bill gates. he signed with nike and yonex, i think, but who knows what the deals were. and they'd surely have clauses or penalties to cover this crap. and who will be keen to sign him now? i might be wrong but hard to see it. i remember the year mike tyson was the world's highest paid sportsman. ahead of jordan and everyone. but 100% of it was from the ring. not a single cent from sponsors.

this kid has never won an event. i think he made a final in a minor tournament. his atp record is 50% win/loss. that is extremely low if you are supposedly a star. he is talented but he has not turned that into success on the court.

he needs to turn it around on the court or it will be a wasted career.

[Guest rob]

In regard to the forums rules about talking about people.... I will moderate my comments....

But I can assure you, without doubt..... his brother is an absolute **** of a human being. This is not in light of the recent events - he has been that way for many many years. I have many stories to tell, and none of them excuse him, or flatter him. He is a disgrace.

It's not the first time he has threatened physical violence... I have witnessed first hand towards a mate of mine many years ago. Sadly, Nick hasn't had a lot to look up to.

Re: parents: they are awesome. His dad is a hard working tradie who I like a lot.

[Ken Gargett]

In regard to the forums rules about talking about people.... I will moderate my comments....

But I can assure you, without doubt..... his brother is an absolute **** of a human being. This is not in light of the recent events - he has been that way for many many years. I have many stories to tell, and none of them excuse him, or flatter him. He is a disgrace.

It's not the first time he has threatened physical violence... I have witnessed first hand towards a mate of mine many years ago. Sadly, Nick hasn't had a lot to look up to.

Re: parents: they are awesome. His dad is a hard working tradie who I like a lot.

take your point and i'm sure we've all seen plenty of families where the parents are really decent people but the kids don't reflect that. and i can understand parents wanting to defend their kids but his mum should have not got onto twitter.

the brother said he studied law. did he finish?

[Guest rob]

the brother said he studied law. did he finish?

Quite likely means he was in trouble for previously assaulting someone and is using his prior experiences as a case studies for legal precedent. He is an overly aggressive, arrogant dropout who would be lucky to be a fraction as talented as his brother or sister.

[Ken Gargett]

Quite likely means he was in trouble for previously assaulting someone and is using his prior experiences as a case studies for legal precedent. He is an overly aggressive, arrogant dropout who would be lucky to be a fraction as talented as his brother or sister.

i see that wikipedia says he is a lawyer. of course, he could have posted that himself.

and the sister is an actress? of any note?

[shlomo]

shlomo. i don't think so. never know, of course, until we are in that position.

but if we take your point that it is a business, then this is really dumb. he, and many players, can make a lot of money from sponsorships and corporate gigs etc etc. he is ruling himself out of these. no one here wants to touch him. he has, by his actions, cost himself significant money. and we need to remember that it is not as though he is earning truckloads as a tennis player. depending what site you look at, he has earnt between half a mill to 1.5 mill. it seems to be around one mill. not bad but the costs are extremely high. he'd hardly be broke but he ain't bill gates. he signed with nike and yonex, i think, but who knows what the deals were. and they'd surely have clauses or penalties to cover this crap. and who will be keen to sign him now? i might be wrong but hard to see it. i remember the year mike tyson was the world's highest paid sportsman. ahead of jordan and everyone. but 100% of it was from the ring. not a single cent from sponsors.

this kid has never won an event. i think he made a final in a minor tournament. his atp record is 50% win/loss. that is extremely low if you are supposedly a star. he is talented but he has not turned that into success on the court.

he needs to turn it around on the court or it will be a wasted career.

I get your point. I just think that what he said was not as abhorrent as some comments here make it out to be. If we wanted no trash talking and only polite competitions from athletes, then perhaps a kindergarten game of duck duck goose would be about it.

Don't want to beat a dead horse here but I hear so much worse every day driving to work....lol

[Ken Gargett]

I get your point. I just think that what he said was not as abhorrent as some comments here make it out to be. If we wanted no trash talking and only polite competitions from athletes, then perhaps a kindergarten game of duck duck goose would be about it.

Don't want to beat a dead horse here but I hear so much worse every day driving to work....lol

shlomo, absolutely agree. you'd hear worse every day in every school's playground. it is simply that tennis is supposedly one of the few sanctuaries. they want to keep it that way. and it largely is, at least publicly. this is why this is so unacceptable to the game and its fans.

[wabashcr]

that is a bit of a different angle from the one i saw - interestingly your link says that there is a better video view of it but that has been removed.

he has basically admitted he said it to stan (i'm giving up on both last names) and stan's reaction certainly suggested that he heard, and believed it aimed at him. to me, it makes no sense to say it to anyone else. i have no doubt it was said to offend. no other reason to say it.

also, he'd already had a crack at stan earlier in the same game, trying to denigrate him saying he was banging an 18 year old. he clearly did not get the effect he wanted and so he upped it.

i suspect we might remain on different sides of this one.

My intent was merely to mitigate the impact of that one particular statement, certainly not to defend his behavior on the whole. I thought Wawrinka had said he didn't hear the remark initially, and was only told of it after the fact, but I could very well be mistaken.

I think we're definitely on the same side of the larger discussion, which I concede renders moot the point I was trying to make. All in the spirit of respectful, yet inconsequential debate.

[Bill Hayes]

I think the brother as a role model explains a lot. Playing dime store psychologist I think the boy is in the middle of a nervous breakdown and he's lashing out in order to cope. Unfortunately he'll have to really hit rock bottom to admit to himself he has a problem. If he keeps pushing good people away he won't change. I'm hopeful though that someone can get through to him and he moves away from the brother. It's all pretty sad because he's good to watch when playing well. He should move to another country with a coach and cut the apron strings. On a lighter note, my favourite sledge was from the great Viv Richards. It's more of a retort than a sledge though. Can't remember the bowler but Viv played and missed a couple of times and the bowler said, "It's red and five and a half ounces". The next deliver Viv hooked for six out of the ground and said, "you know what it looks like, you go fetch it". I also like the West Indies pace bowlers in the late seventies, Holding and co bowling short and saying, "if you want to drive buy a car".

[Coolio]

I think the brother as a role model explains a lot. Playing dime store psychologist I think the boy is in the middle of a nervous breakdown and he's lashing out in order to cope. Unfortunately he'll have to really hit rock bottom to admit to himself he has a problem. If he keeps pushing good people away he won't change. I'm hopeful though that someone can get through to him and he moves away from the brother. It's all pretty sad because he's good to watch when playing well. He should move to another country with a coach and cut the apron strings. On a lighter note, my favourite sledge was from the great Viv Richards. It's more of a retort than a sledge though. Can't remember the bowler but Viv played and missed a couple of times and the bowler said, "It's red and five and a half ounces". The next deliver Viv hooked for six out of the ground and said, "you know what it looks like, you go fetch it". I also like the West Indies pace bowlers in the late seventies, Holding and co bowling short and saying, "if you want to drive buy a car".

I reckon you're spot on Bill, from what rob was saying above about his brother it all adds up. He's just got a terrible mentor/manager/or whatever is it his brother does. Maybe Nike or one of his big sponsors need to pull the pin, or threaten too, unless he ditches the brother.

He is great to watch, and tennis needs some colour in it, but not the type that we've seen from him and Tomic recently. I don't mind if these guys are different, tennis would be boring if everyone was as nice as Roger or Pat. I just want them to be decent people.

Maybe Lleyton will set him straight!

[Coolio]

Some action has been taken by the ITF, regards the brother.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/tennis/christos-kyrgios-has-atp-credentials-revoked-forced-to-buy-ticket-to-watch-his-brother-nick-kyrgios-in-cincinnati-20150818-gj28uw.html