STARNBERG, July 14, 2020

Ever since bursting onto the scene with an impressive run at Wimbledon back in 2014, many fans and critics expected Nick Kyrgios to become one of the world’s best. But it’s not quite gone to plan since then with controversies on and off the court.

Can the Canberra born 25-year-old change his fortunes and pick up a Grand Slam title in the near future? We’ll look at the two big tournaments coming up as well as his supposed reputation and improved influence off the court recently.

French Open and US Open in 2020

Due to the current situation, Roland Garros has been switched to take place from the 27th September this year, which is just a couple of weeks after the US Open finishes at Flushing Meadows. Kyrgios is not one of the favourites, but if he can focus for the two weeks then he has a great chance, thus making the odds on him to win the tournament a little more appealing.

You can catch the matches being live-streamed on some popular betting sites if you plan on backing Kyrgios. In Australia and other big markets, bookmakers like bet365 offer customers a live streaming service for tennis tournaments. With their tools like the Bet Builder, there are a lot of bet365 tennis betting options, even at times when the number of matches is low.

Nick Kyrgios currently priced up at 67.00 to win the French Open and 51.00 to win in America at the time of writing. It’s worth keeping track of his form leading up to the two Grand Slams, but he’ll suit the hard surface more than he would clay, so ignoring the French Open price could be wise if you fancy backing him.

What you could do is wait until the Australian Open in 2021, where he’s around 31.00 to lift the coveted Norman Brookes Challenge Cup. The home crowd could be a factor if they’re allowed in but, as mentioned, keep an eye on his form leading up to it.

Reputation gets the better of him

There’s no doubting the talent Kyrgios possess. He rose to number 13 in the world back in 2016. But talent only gets you so far. He’s done a lot of good things off the court recently, which we’ll touch on soon, but it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for Kyrgios since his ‘tanking’ incident in 2015.

• Wimbledon in 2015 – Accused of deliberately playing poorly and admitted in 2017 that he had indeed tanked a few tournaments in the past as he wanted to be doing something else.
• Rogers Cup in 2015 – Fined thousands for shouting insults in Stan Wawrinka’s direction
• Shanghai Masters in 2016 – Fined for abusing a spectator and banned for eight weeks for failing to try his best in a match against Mischa Zverev.
• McEnroe criticism in 2016 – After losing to Andy Murray at Wimbledon, John McEnroe questioned his attitude. He did so again a couple of months later but switched his stance in 2018 when he stated that Kyrgios was the best tennis player he’d seen in the last decade.

He doesn’t help himself when he openly admits that he doesn’t enjoy playing tennis and prefers basketball, but his attitude has changed as he’s got older. Especially off the court.

Improvements off the court

Although his reputation precedes him, Nick Kyrgios has done some wonderful things recently to help out the wider community.

At the backend of 2019, Australia was devastated by bushfires that destroyed land for miles. Kyrgios couldn’t just sit and watch that unfold without doing anything, so he took it upon himself to raise funds for the victims of the fires. Not only that but he also pledged to donate $200 for every single ace he served in the summer months.

He also took to Instagram back in April to post that he was willing to share food with anyone who needs it during the virus outbreak:

“If ANYONE is not working/not getting an income and runs out of food, or times are just tough … please don’t go to sleep with an empty stomach,” Kyrgios’s message read.

“Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to send me a private message. I will be more than happy to share whatever I have. Even for just a box of noodles, a loaf of bread or milk. I will drop it off at your doorstep, no questions asked! #JoinTheCause”.

What does the future hold?

It remains to be seen how the rest of Nick Kyrgios’ career will pan out, but his efforts off the court may go a long way to helping him improve his mental strength on it. He was always the laughingstock of the tour in years gone by, but after doing so much good work this year away from tennis, he might just be able to focus on the sport he gets paid to do without worrying about what others think.

He’s not hidden the fact that he feels his best years as a tennis player are behind him, but at just 25 years of age, many would argue that he still has a good decade left in the game. That’s plenty of time to pick up a Grand Slam or three. If he brings a coach onboard then the sky really is the limit for this talented Aussie.