John Newcombe: 'Nick Kyrgios will have to learn to zip up'
For the fifth straight year, Nick Kyrgios will finish the season in the top-35, standing as the second-best ranked Aussie after Alex de Minaur. The Canberra native claimed two ATP 500 titles this season in Acapulco and Washington, failing to reach the quarter-final outside those two events and scoring only 23 victories for the worst tally since 2014! Besides ups and downs on the court, Nick crossed the line many times, with the bad behavior culminating in the second-round clash in Cincinnati against Karen Khachanov when he threw everything he had in his tantrum arsenal at the chair umpire Fergus Murphy.
That was only one of his incidents from 2019 that have kept him away from the Newcombe Medal awards table and caused the wrath of many tennis fans worldwide, labeling him as the ultimate "bad boy" of modern tennis. The seven-time Major singles champion John Newcombe is also in the group of those who were not impressed with what Nick showed in 2019, questioning his character and even the physical shape that has not been at 100% for months. Nick couldn't complete in all the ties during the Davis Cup Finals in Madrid and Newcombe is not sure about his chances at the upcoming Australian Open that requires the best-of-five encounters.
"I can't speak for him but if it were me, it would be tough having that ban hanging over you. But I guess you've just got to learn to zip up. I thought it was great that Nick played in the Davis Cup but it's a bit of a worry that he has recurring injuries, especially around where the muscles join the joints and that's going to be an ongoing problem for him it seems. At the Davis Cup, he only played four sets of singles and his shoulder started to play up again and when you've got an injury like that it's hard to go out and practice a lot. Leading into the Australian Open - five sets is a big ask for him."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2YcMTzb
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