Australian Open 2017

[Thryleon]

Murray is not Anglo; he's a Celt.  We may look similar but don't lump us all together ;  Kyrgios has Malayan ancestry too.

I understand what you're getting at though Thry.  I wonder how Kyrgios would be treated if he was a little more conservative in his appearance.

Did you hear Daria Gavrilova explain how she used a toilet break to regain her composure?

I know it's not part of the game now but I wonder if giving players the opportunity to call a time out would reduce the temper tantrums and bad behaviour.

Apololgies DJC.

FWIW this is my opinion on athletes, copy and pasted from elsewhere:

He's a Brit. It's ok for them to act like wankers but not others. To be honest, I think they should be able to behave as they like provided they aren't breaching rules. Why do athletes have to be held to such high standards when we accept all manner of fuckwits in society? They're good at sport ffs not the delai lama.

Look above.  People get all churlish about Kyrgios, but his opponent took Wawrinka through the wringer to try and beat him (straight sets, but 3 tie breakers in a row is as good a contest as you will get in straight sets, and there is no shame in not winning a set), and you can state that he would achieve more if he applied himself, but not one person has acknowledged that Andreas Seppi who played about as good a tournament as he ever has beat him fair and square by being more measured.

It was interesting, Seppi even stated in his post match press conference that he had been at that point before (like Kyrgios) and lost and that he learned from it.

Now its a matter of whether or not Kyrgios will learn.

Regarding the casual racism, its not up to me to defend that.  I have simply pointed it out.  What I find interesting, is the need for people to then act like its to do with his "behaviour".  Look above, they are people.  Not all humans are the consumate professionals.  We should know that all too well, and anyone below 22 really shouldnt have this level of scrutiny on what they do.  We judge them on exposure of maybe 40 hours a year.  What do we know about their lives? We have people calling them spoilt, but last I checked, there must be some level of dedication to even turn pro in the first place.  We comment all the time about people "making it" and then not applying themselves once at the top level.  Phillipoussis was another example.

He never really tanked during his career, but he got lots of negative criticism because of the Cars and the women.  its his life, he lives it, and does what he does.

Big difference between Hewitt and Kyrios.  Hewitt never gave up on a point, let alone tanked games or sets.  And no one ever questioned how he trained and prepared for the tennis year and for tournaments and matches.  No one ever questioned whether he wanted to get the best out of himself in his tennis career.  Hewitt and Kyrios are in fact on opposite ends of the determination and dedication scale.

Hewitt was never held to any standards and was regarded as the darling of Australian sport even if he was guilty of steeling someone else's celebration, and then pumping up every single point he won, even if it was his opponents unforced error (unsportsmanlike IMHO).

Still, he had fairly high standards that he lived up to, even if he was occasionally unsavoury and was capable of pulling the excuse of blaming the surface at the Aussie open but no one begrudged that of him.

One of the biggest sins in sports is a professional sportsman who tanks.  When Kyrios walks to his chair as his opponent is serving, he sets himself up for contempt.  Tanking is prohibited by the ATP.  That may be mostly down to betting issues, but it also mirrors the attitudes of tennis fans.

No doubt Hewitt and Murray have had their meltdowns on the tennis court but they never tanked as a result.  Murray's play used to be detrimentally affected by his outbursts and anger while Hewitt actually played better when he felt the world was against him.  But the meltdowns were more a reflection of their desperation to win rather than a lack of interest and focus as it is with Kyrios.

If Kyrios just broke a few racquets but busted his guts to win, most fans would forgive him for some bad behaviour. But tanking adds an unforgivable 2nd strike.  That said, if he grows up and gives his best, Aussies will quickly embrace him.

The accusation of tanking is interesting.  Just because everyone calls it tanking, doesnt mean he necessarily did.  Its kind of hypocritical.  We have someone who is admonished for not doing the work in to be a proffesional athlete, and then when he plays a very flat game of tennis after probably going to his limits in such a short period of time, due to poor preparation, he is then accused of tanking.

Even at the Shanghai Masters, it was against Mischa Zverev.  A bloke who knocked out Andy Murray in 5 sets yesterday.


I don't really care whether or not people like or dislike an athlete, but to me, I see this particular case as casual racism and its not up to me to convince you it exists, I'm throwing the comment out there as to why people automatically have the above opinions of the southern europeans particularly in the media. 

Again, athletes are not the moral compass of society, and if the media are attacking someone, these days you should ignore them because they go the easy headline most of the time and most of the easy ones have been thrown out about Nick Kyrgios.