Australian Open: The Purified Bad Boy: Nick Kyrgios Wakes Up Australian Hopes

Nick Kyrgios shows his positive side in Melbourne so far. After his four-set win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the crowd favourite is in the last sixteen.

Rod Laver is now 79 years old. He is the idol of entire generations of tennis, the man who has won the real Grand Slam twice, all four major tournaments in one calendar year. Laver is a little man who once had the nickname “Rocket of Rockhampton”, you don’t see him that way. The long journey from his adopted country of choice, the USA, to the old homeland of Australia obviously bothers him, but he doesn’t want to miss the annual Grand Slam date in Melbourne, despite all the physical difficulties.

Laver is also a man with a sharp eye. And an analytical acuity that can easily compete with any of the many so-called tennis experts in radio and television. In Laver’s case, it is by no means clumsy chauvinism when he calls his fellow countryman Nick Kyrgios “the greatest talent” in the travelling circus. Laver judges the bad boy’s much accused talents as such, and at the same time he has often spoken harshly and ruthlessly about “how bad it is to see Nick squandering his potential”.

Before this dazzling, controversial, often polarizing Kyrgios took on his task against world-class rider Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday, Laver – or one of his assistants for him – sent out two messages on social networks: he, Laver, is extremely looking forward to the big game between Kyrgios and Tsonga.

And second, he favors and cheers for the Australian. Kyrgios won the third round thriller with 7:6 (7:5), 4:6,7:6 (8:6) and 7:6 (7:5) and confirmed in the pose of the ice-cold, sometimes fiery and yet controlled competitor that at the moment you can really look forward to his games. And none of the legendary indiscipline or motivation problems must expect.

“At the moment I’m reaping the fruits of a really good preparation for the season,”Kyrgios said afterwards. The next popcorn match in the round of sixteen will take place as soon as Kyrgios meets the reigning ATP world champion, Grigor Dimitrov, who is strong and confident in form,”It’s going to be an eye-to-eye fight. The winner will undoubtedly play a decisive role in the fight for the title,”ex-superstar John McEnroe suspects, currently in Melbourne once again as a TV chatterbox.

Kyrgios, long time apart from the erratic, plainly knitted compatriot Bernard Tomic the second Australian tennis scandal noodle, seems these days almost like a completely normal, not too conspicuous professional. Like someone who concentrates on the essentials and enjoys his job.

Rarely in his career has Kyrgios been stable and predictable over such a long period of time as now at the beginning of 2018, after all, he opened the current campaign with a trophy triumph at the competition in Brisbane – his opponent there in the final: Dimitrov, also one of those who has been predicted great things for many years, but who will not be able to take the bite and the bite until his World Cup coup in London in November.

Kyrgios seems to have caught himself. For the time being, anyway. Perhaps it is also the foundation he has set up for disadvantaged children, to which he recently donated only 100,000 Australian dollars extra. He wants to be remembered as someone “who has helped other people”, says Kyrgios,”not necessarily as a great tennis player, but it could also be that at some point he will have managed both to be the outstanding professional and the good man of Kyrgios.