Kyrgios is surely just what tennis needs

Well thank heaven for Nick Kyrgios. The lavishly inked, blinged and barbered Aussie is quite one of the most thrilling spectacles in tennis. And in a so-far magnificent Wimbledon he has caught the eye more than most. Just as he would want. Much pursing of tennis writers’ lips at Kyrgios’s behaviour during his defeat by the beautifully cultivated Frenchman Richard Gasquet, but really what was the harm?

After being ticked off for swearing, Kyrgios went on a brilliantly childish sulk, not bothering to try in Gasquet’s next service game, deliberately steering one ball into the net and just walking away from the next service. It was hilarious and just what tennis wants in my view. Afterwards he was asked why he hadn’t tried to get to the serve. ‘Have you ever tried to play a service from Richard Gasquet?’ he replied. Which might be nonsense — Kyrgios is after all a pro tennis player — but is a pretty smart reply. Gasquet himself went to town on a racket, practically vaporising it against the ground and any passing chair, but nobody thinks of him as anything but a gent.

We have come some way since John McEnroe was disqualified from the 1990 Australian Open for inviting the umpire to ‘go fuck your mother’. Now McEnroe is the Dalai Lama of all tennis commentators and you cannot listen to Radio 5 without callers breaking down in tears as they tell the greying sage what a privilege it is to talk to him. So we shouldn’t be too hard on the hugely gifted Kyrgios. He’ll doubtless be up there at the Gatsby Club with the next Clare Balding (if there ever is one) on BBC2 soon enough.

Heather Watson provided one of the great Wimbledon moments this year, daring to challenge the force that is Serena Williams, but it will be interesting to see how much further she can take it.