Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios is commentating for major sports network ESPN  during the US Open. He is doing a good job and his commentary is insightful, always tinged with a dash of humour.

He shows abilities here and one can see him transitioning in this direction once he calls time on his tennis career.

But what about competitive tennis? Has Kyrigos given up on that?

He has not been present in recent major tournaments and has said that he is injured.

A couple of years ago he showed that he could beat anybody and made a good run all the way to the Wimbledon final where he lost to Novak Djokovic in four sets. That year he won the Washington Open in both the singles and doubles categories and made it to the fourth round of the US Open. He finished 2022 ranked 21 in the world whereas the previous year he was ranked 92.

He should have pushed on from there but instead opted to court controversy and take on the mantle of “The bad boy of tennis”.

 No one remembers that, all that is remembered is what you have accomplished during your time.

People say he has personality, that he draws attention but for what? His is a case of wasted talent and wasted opportunities.

Kyrgios is a good tennis player with a great serve and unique ground strokes. If he puts it all together, he is a handful for anybody. However, he lacks ambition, drive and discipline. With his talent and abilities, he should be a force in the men’s game today more so with Federer, Nadal and Djokovic no longer dominating the scene.

At 29, it may be too late for him to ascend to top-tier performances and he may figure he can make just as good a living as a controversial commentator who is a provocateur. However, the competitor inside him is crying the tears of a clown.

He works at ESPN with the likes of John McEnroe and Chris Evert. They were great champions who took on all comers. People keep going on about John McEnroe’s outbursts which made their way into pop culture but he won many titles, 155 ATP titles with 7 Grand Slam titles. His singles match record of 82-3 in 1984 remains the best single-season win rate in the Open Era. His accomplishments take him into the Hall of Fame, not his outbursts. Yes, he played with intensity but he played to win and did so with creative flair. He was no posing clown looking for attention.

American Chris Evert is a former No. 1 ranked player, a great of the game, winning 157 titles with 18 Grand Slam singles titles. She is arguably still the coolest and most graceful female player to dominate the game.

These are Kyrigos’ commentating colleague-winners, players who left their mark on the game, gladiators who held their arms aloft in victory many times at the end of a tournament.

Kyrigos must level with us. Is he a tennis player or is he a full-time commentator?

He played an exhibition match at the US Open this year, but has missed playing Grand Slams for two years now. The great Rafael Nadal has been plagued by serious injuries for years but still battles. He came back this year and played in the French Open and showed the heart of a warrior. He is the most fierce competitor the men’s tennis has ever seen and one of the all-time greats of the game. He will always be remembered for what he did and his competitiveness. No one will remember snarky tweets, this time next year. 

Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zvererv were a few years ago seen as the ones to succeed the top 3 Greats. That never materialised. Now you have Jannick Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz knocking hard on that door. Behind them come players like Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Casper Rudd, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Frances Tiafoe, Ben Shelton. Where does Kyrigos fit in all this? Has he lost his chance to be a real contender, allowing his prospects to dissipate so cavalierly?

This weekend, he made disparaging remarks against Jannick Sinner’s girlfriend who he also dated some time ago. Why? It looks like a case of sour grapes. Why be so disrespectful?

Earlier this year, he took a pop at Boris Becker. Becker has accomplished infinitely more in the world of tennis than Kyrigos ever will. Becker is still arguably one of the best hard-court players this world has ever seen. Check out his titanic battles with Pete Sampras on hard courts. He revolutionised the game with aggressive groundstrokes and epic volleying. What has Kyrigos done in comparison? He should have left Boris alone but if the aim was to seek attention then perhaps some sort of satisfaction was obtained.

There is still time for Kyrigos to resuscitate his career. Grigor Dimitrov has got his head down and worked hard to breathe new life into his career and the results speak for themselves. Perhaps the Australian can emulate him, look to him as an example of a great second act. 

Novak Djokovic will come back and he is still capable of sweeping all before him even well into his thirties. It was a tough year for him after surgery and losing both at the French and Wimbledon. His Olympic win again demonstrated the greatness of Novak Djokovic, the best this world has yet seen. 

Nick Kyrigos was in the era of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray. He must look to these guys and draw inspiration, pay attention to how they conducted their business and the way they comported themselves. Sure you can exhibit personality but you have to win, man! That’s the only thing that counts.

What then after you have had a laugh?