SYDNEY: According to the player’s former manager and agency, Nick Kyrgios’ bad boy persona is largely a “show persona” designed to shield the “lovely, sincere, sensitive guy” underneath.
The mysterious Australian is one of the most divisive players on the tennis circuit, and his on-court outbursts throughout a tumultuous career have resulted in innumerable fines.
Lack of effort, racquet smashing outbursts, verbal abuse of umpires, spitting in the direction of spectators, and throwing a chair onto the court have all been considered offences.Due to an ugly altercation with third-round opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas, he has already accrued $14,000 in penalties at Wimbledon, where he will face Novak Djokovic in the championship match on Sunday.
John Morris, who discovered Kyrgios and served as his mentor for ten years, claimed that the bluster and arrogance didn’t represent the true Nick.
He “played up to it a little bit and became a parody of this bad guy persona,” Morris told the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday.
