Is Nick Kyrgios heading for redemption?

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“Point violation: thinking your God’s gift,” Sacha Baron Cohen’s character – an Aussie tennis umpire somewhere between Shane Warne and The Castle’s Darryl Kerrigan – tells tennis young gun, sometimes brat and part Australian Greek god Nick Kyrgios.

Kyrgios doubles over and cracks up, as he tries to remain in character. The unlikely pair are filming at Melbourne’s famous Kooyong tennis club for a new Uber Eats campaign to premier on Monday for the start of the delayed Australian Open.

AFR Weekend was granted an exclusive interview on the closed set. Since speaking to Kyrgios, friends, family and colleagues have all had one question: “What’s he really like?” as they wonder aloud if the bad boy of tennis could really be on the verge of a remarkable story of redemption.

Wednesday night’s bizarre mid-match meltdown after a time violation at an Australian Open warm-up event reminded us how fragile those hopes might be.

“I’m not f—ing moving. It’s like you guys do it to just be funny. Bro, I was serving. Why’d you have to call it?” Kyrgios fumed, putting down his racquet and walking off to his courtside chair, before ultimately winning the match.

Nick Kyrgios on set with Sacha Baron Cohen for an Uber Eats ad in Melbourne this week.  Patrick Durkin

There are also signs his relationship with girlfriend Chiara Passari has imploded.

But the public remains desperate for him to keep “bad Nick” at bay and finally deliver on his unlimited potential.

“I can definitely feel a bit of [public] warmth on my side but it doesn’t really change how I go about things. I’ll always be my own man, I’ll be comfortable in my own skin,” Kyrgios tells AFR Weekend, as the polarising star opts to stand and stare ahead, shifting his weight impatiently, as he listens to our questions.

Nick Kyrgios has deleted on social media photos of his girlfriend Chiara Passari, who has left a cryptic message on her Instagram about “cheaters” and turned her account private.  Instagram
The 25-year old, who has won more than $US8.5 million in prize money, claims his decision to stay home in Canberra through most of last year because of the pandemic and barely play a match has left him refreshed, recharged and ready to win.

“I feel like it’s completely refreshed me, I feel like I’m hungry and I haven’t played in a while, so it feels new to me a little bit, but at the same time I think it was just a good time to get back to the basics – my family, friends and just be normal again,” he says.

“The last couple of months, last three to four months, I’ve been training pretty hard, definitely the first month or two I didn’t touch a tennis racquet at all, I just wanted to completely chill and I’ve literally been doing nothing.”

Wednesday night’s outburst adds to a long list of show-stopping meltdowns, fines for a lack of effort, as well as public beefs with Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka.

The ongoing controversy has scared off sponsors including Bonds and Malaysia Airlines, although lucrative deals with Nike, Yonex and Uber Eats remain.

His mercurial, entertaining but dividing style also continues to win fans. Melbourne’s public cheered his criticism of Djokovic after the Serbian star’s list of quarantine demands, and for shooting down complaints from Bernard Tomic’s girlfriend about washing her own hair in lockdown.

“You see people losing lives, you can’t complain, you can’t complain about being in a hotel for a couple of weeks,” Kyrgios tells AFR Weekend. “They are setting up a tournament for you to play and we are being paid more because we haven’t been allowed to play, I just don’t think there’s any time for complaining.”

‘He likes to do unpredictable stuff’

A pivotal turning point in the Kyrgios redemption story came last year when he shed tears over the catastrophic Australian bushfires he called “bigger than tennis” and raised over $90,000 towards the Bushfire Appeal, including $200 for every ace he hit.

“It’s obviously nice having some more support behind me. Last year with the bushfires and everything going I felt like everyone really got behind me,” he says.

He has continued work on his NK Foundation, which offers low-cost access to sport and education for underprivileged youth.

He also seemed to find happiness – for a while – with girlfriend Passari, although a cryptic Instagram message from her this week about “cheaters” sent media into overdrive on their relationship.

Kyrgios appears to have deleted multiple couple photos from his social media and Passari has since made her Instagram private.

Team Kyrgios has also brought in the respected marketing, publicity and crisis management expert Tristan Hay, who is well known in rugby league and NBA circles.

But like all things Kyrgios, another controversy, meltdown or public spat never seems far away, and his fellow tennis stars will still take some convincing.

“He likes to do unpredictable stuff,” says Stefanos Tsitsipas – Kyrgios’ sometimes doubles partner and one of the few players he might call a friend on tour – who admits Kyrgios is the “black sheep” of the tour.

“He is just very hyperactive, he hates to lose, trust me, he just hates to lose, I didn’t expect it myself,” Tsitsipas recently told the No Challenges Remaining podcast.

“He likes attention. He has his own personality which stands out. Some people love it … a lot of people hate it and don’t understand it.

“I think all sport needs that. It’s entertainment, it’s fun, it’s something unique and special not many players have. As long as he is not disrespectful – he may have been a few times and that’s not cool – but when he is in total respect of the game and does the right thing, he is just really fun to watch.”