It’s an awkward age, 19; too old for childish things but still far too young to be taken seriously by the adult world. Maybe you have a vague recollection of what it felt like; the terrible clothes and music, the clumsy and unrefined opinions so embarrassingly thrust upon a suddenly uncaring world.
Still three months from putting those transitional teenage years behind him, Nick Kyrgios resolved before this Australian Open to have some fun with it all, not actually an unpopular sentiment from an athlete still enjoying a relative honeymoon period with his country’s media.
Things have changed a little for Kyrgios this week though and even as he won his way through to today’s Round 3 clash against Tunisian Malek Jaziri the rising star, who claims to read every message he’s sent on social media, probably got a taste of the trials his countryman Bernard Tomic has faced over the past few years. He might also have realised what it could be like if the wins ever dry up.
With those artfully-shaven eyebrows, the fluro kit, the 1990s B-Boy fade, the gold chains and the hip hop swagger, Kyrgios has certainly made a splash in Melbourne this week, but it was his post-match interview following that second-round victory over Ivo Karlovic that’s gotten the most blowback. Plenty to tut-tut over, as it turned out. Responding to a question surrounding John Newcombe’s claim that anything could happen if Kyrgios was forced to a fifth set, the young star replied, “Well yeah, that’s usually what happens when you lose a fourth set, you go into a fifth one…”
Never mind that it was (a) actually quite funny in context and (b) exactly the kind of thing you’d expect a teenager to say, some claimed Kyrgios was too big for boots. Others cried Tomic-level arrogance, whatever that actually is. In truth the bigger development in Australian tennis this week – the forest that couldn’t be seen for the blinged-out trees - was that Australia actually had players left in the draw to whinge about. Eleven of them had progressed to round two. Every day was Australia Day.
There was another perennial irony at play here, too. For all the cheek of Kyrgios’ post-match display he’d given overhead smashes to the twin frustrations of inane on-court interview questions and flavorless athlete sound bites. Is it a little harsh to give the kid an even bigger serve for his candour?
In all honesty Kyrgios probably had a few moments during the match itself that were of greater interest than his quotes afterwards. What we’re starting to see now is the development of his on-court persona. In the first set Kyrgios appeared distracted, by interactions with the crowd, the umpire and even by his own socks. The young Australian stalked around the baseline muttering to himself, shrugging his shoulders and gesticulating like Annie Hall-era Woody Allen as styled by Kanye West.
The brashness and sharp tongue we’ve seen this week are also pretty consistent with Kyrgios’ behaviour even as the gangly teen made his first big statement at Wimbledon last year. Surely it’s only a precocious talent that has the stones to try a through-the-legs winner against Rafael Nadal. Not many teenage wallflowers feel comfortable staring down at the world from billboards wearing nothing but a pair of Bonds underpants, either.
After some of the wipe-outs of the past decade, perhaps it’s better to acknowledge and rejoice in the modest strides that Australian tennis has made this week. The vocal Australian supporter group The Fanatics – proof if ever it was needed that humor is entirely subjective – have nevertheless seen their unofficial role develop from mild irritants of the opening 48 hours to a week-long residency in the stands.
Casey Dellacqua, Sam Stosur and Ajla Tomljanovic might have actually gone deeper, but there’s been plenty else to like. Grinning away on Kia commercials in seemingly every TV ad break, big-serving Sam Groth has motored past his opening round opponents, including the elastic teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis. Bernard Tomic, perhaps relieved to finally have another Australian player shielding him from controversy, has displayed the kind of resilience and adaptability his fiercest critics tend to ignore.
At the other end of the age spectrum from Kyrgios and now in front of slightly-depleted crowds, 33-year-old Lleyton Hewitt keeps grinding on like a tennis zombie. It’s possible that matches like Hewitt’s loss to Benjamin Becker on Thursday now mean far more to him than they do to anyone else, even the Fanatics, but there’s something admirable about the way his love of the game and the one-on-one contest stops his wearied body from saying no.
Among life’s certainties now are death, taxes and Lleyton Hewitt taking someone to the fifth set in the early rounds of the Australian Open. How compelling it would be to transfer his spirit, work ethic and bloody-mindedness into the bodies of the younger men who follow the path he’s laid over the last two decades.
To observe Lleyton Hewitt in the flesh now is to appreciate the endless torture his body has endured. Those calves of his, the size of watermelons and still pumping away after 18 years on the pro tour, really should be immortalized in bronze and placed in the National Sports Museum.
Of course the teenage Hewitt was a lightning rod the likes of which even Kyrgios and Tomic couldn’t fathom. Fitting then that as they rise he hangs in grimly, reminding us that the life of the tennis prodigy is a very public journey into adulthood. The only real shock is that under that spotlight, they don’t stumble as often and embarrassingly as we once did ourselves.
