Bill Simons
The man whose unsparing hot takes have brought some to tears was weeping at Indian Wells last night.
The whiz with the magical shot-making skills had been betrayed by his wrist. He had to withdraw from his opening round match against Botic van de Zandschulp.
Nick Kyrgios has never won a Slam. His highest ranking was No. 13. But there’s no one like the 6’ 4” 29-year-old. He may have emerged from one of tennis’ most storied nations, but he’s anything but traditional.
Tennis has given him fame and fortune, yet he’s often railed against it. His true love is hoops – Kobe rocked, long live the Boston Celtics.
Of Greek and Malaysian heritage, the Canberra, Australia native can flick winners, unleash powerful blasts or simply astonish us with his creativity. Short of the most charismatic icons – say, Federer, Nadal, Serena and Alcaraz – no one can light up a sleepy tennis arena more than Nick. His independent spirit is remarkable. Don’t ask him to conform.
His “OMG, how did he do that?” winners draw roars. Similarly, off court, he shoots from the hip. His dime-a-dozen comments and unvarnished judgments draw controversy. All the while, he supports fire victims, is chatty with cafeteria workers and has long been popular in the locker room.
After pleading guilty to a domestic violence charge in 2023, he poignantly reflected on his turbulent past: “I was lonely, depressed, negative, abusing alcohol, drugs, [and I] pushed away family and friends. I felt as if I couldn’t talk to or trust anyone.”
Unfortunately, empathy toward others is not Nick’s strong suit. Over the years he’s had raw spats with umps, officials, fans, journalists and many players, including Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic. His vendetta against Jannik Sinner, who’s dating his former girlfriend, Anna Kalinskaya, has been dreary, unrelenting and at times shameful. Nick has a tendency to go for the jugular. Measured reflections aren’t his favorite form of communication.
Yet, after his devastating withdrawal Thursday night, usually skeptical writers in his post-match presser were touched by his thoughts. Those who enjoy reading Kyrgios’ tea leaves know that he’s the only top ATP player without a coach. And, while he’s been criticized for his lack of discipline, and, at times, for not training hard enough, he’s been applauded for his breathtaking, wristy winners.
Then, 18 months ago, his wrist broke down. Like so many brilliant stars before him – Maureen Connolly, Tracy Austin, Juan Martin Del Potro, Rafa and Andy Murray – his body was undercutting his career.
He had two surgeries, including a total wrist reconstruction. He briefly reappeared in January in Australia. But his wrist again rebelled. So he drew back, trained hard and pointed to a tourney he loves – Indian Wells.
All was going well until Tuesday, when, on his second to last shot during practice, he felt a sharp pain in his wrist.
Still, he decided to play Thursday, and gained a set point against van de Zandschulp. But then the pain became too much. When he was down 7-6, 3-0, he threw in the towel.
Later he spoke of the tedious rehab work he’d endured for months and how this has been the biggest challenge of his career. A reporter’s question summed up Nick’s world: “Does it baffle you that as soon as things get right, something else goes wrong, and then you get to the stage that, ‘Enough is enough?’”
Clearly Kyrgios was stunned. With pride, he spoke of the glimpses of good tennis he’d shown, how the crowd had gone ballistic, how no one has come back from a total wrist reconstruction to play at the top of the game and how uncertain his future is. He’s not sure if he can play the Miami Open later this month.
So what does the game’s most provocative player think of his fate these days? Not surprisingly, Nick was blunt. “It sucks,” he said. “As much as I’ve had a love/hate relationship with this sport, I enjoy [playing] and it makes me fucking angry – sorry. I want to play. I want to play.”
Certainly the sport is pulling for Nick to come back. A random voice in the press room captured it all: “Nick hasn’t been exactly sympathetic to others, but right now there’s a lot of sympathy for that devil.”
NO TOP FIVE PLAYER BEATS TALLON GRIEKSPOOR 19 TIMES IN A ROW: After a string of losses to Jimmy Connors, Vitas Gerulaitis famously said, “Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.” And the world No. 21 player might say, “No Top Five player beats Tallon Griekspoor 19 times in a row.” It took the Dutchman six match points and 3:07 to beat world No. 2 Alexander Zverev, 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4). But the 28-year-old surged late in the final set tiebreaker to score his first ever win over a Top Five player.
It was a shock. No top seed had lost their opening-round match in Indian Wells since Andy Murray eight years ago. Zverev admitted he might still not have gotten over his heartbreaking loss to Jannik Sinner in the Aussie Open final. And the German said that when Sinner was first suspended he did think about surpassing the Italian to become No. 1 in the world.
Photo by Mike Kheir
Mostly, he said, “I’m just playing terribly. I have to find my game before thinking about becoming No. 1. You have to win tournaments. I’m not past getting first, second rounds…So I need to figure that out first.”
These days, Dutch tennis is having a mini-resurgence. In December, they reached the Davis Cup final and Botic van de Zandschulp dismissed two of the game’s most charismatic players in the last two big tourneys in America. He downed Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open and Thursday night beat the hobbled Nick Kyrgios.
Griekspoor, who beat Daniil Medvedev in Dubai earlier this year, next plays the big Frenchman, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
CALIFORNIA DREAMING: The BNP Paribas Open is California’s home tournament. And Golden State fans were thrilled when, in 2022, Taylor Fritz won. But, truth be told, in general, Californians have had modest results at Indian Wells. Sure, LA residents Naomi Osaka and Maria Sharapova have prevailed in the desert. But a native Californian woman hasn’t won here since Serena in 2001. Way back when, Lindsay Davenport, Michael Chang, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Jim Courier all won.
More recently, there were years when the hot topic was a win or two by Sam Querrey, Stevie Johnson or Claire Liu. But now is a Golden era for Southern California tennis, and not surprisingly there was a smorgasbord of Californians on display.
Thousand Oaks’ Marcos Giron avenged his 6-1, 6-0 loss to Casper Ruud a year ago. The former UCLA national champion claimed his first Top Five win as he downed No. 5 Ruud.
Torrance’s wildcard, Iva Jovic, beat Austrian Julia Grabher, 2-6, 7-5, 6-0. Ranked No. 157, the Peter Smith-coached Jovic faces No. 6 seed Jasmine Paolini next.
Aliso Viejo’s Alex Michelsen took out NCAA No. 3 and University of Arizona senior Colton Smith. Altadena’s Tristan Boyer lost to Tommy Paul, 6-3, 6-1. Although Irvine’s Learner Tien has played in four Grand Slams and has beaten two players who were as high as No. 2 in the world, he lost in his first Masters to Argentine Mariano Navone. Learner was off his game and didn’t shake hands with Navone or the chair ump, saying he didn’t feel well.
Tomorrow’s lineup includes Californians Taylor Fritz, Jenson Brooksby, Mackie McDonald and Brandon Nakashima.
MVT WINS BUD’S PRIZE: In a moving ceremony, Matt Van Tuinen won the Bud Collins Media Award. For 22 years, he’s been the tourney’s Director of Communications. Last April he was diagnosed with ALS.
WTA BACKS MATERNITY LEAVE: It’s said, “Irony is just honesty with the volume cranked up loud.” So it’s interesting that Saudi Arabia, which has an awful record on women’s rights, is backing a wonderful WTA initiative to provide maternity leave for their players.
