John McEnroe and Nick Kyrgios have been working together for the BBC at Wimbledon – and the duo discussed Andrey Rublev, who has taken their crown as the bad boy of tennis
Nick Kyrgios and John McEnroe are famous for their fiery nature on a tennis court, but they are in agreement about the current player coming for their crown.
Kyrgios has been working for the BBC as a pundit at Wimbledon, with his injury problems preventing him from competing. As part of his media duties, he has worked with McEnroe, who shares the Australian’s reputation for angry outbursts on the court and speaking his mind off it.
The duo teamed up for an interview feature for the Championships on the Wimbledon YouTube channel in which Kyrgios quizzed the American. While filming during the first week at the All England Club, they passed Andrey Rublev – the Russian No.6 seed.
Rublev has developed an unwanted reputation for seeing red and smashing rackets on court – and that hasn’t gone unnoticed. As they walked past him, Kyrgios urged McEnroe to say hello and give him a hug.
“Give Rublev some love!” Kyrgios said as they walked from the Aorangi practice courts past Court One. As he obliged, McEnroe replied: “I got to give this guy a little love. You know, he needs a little love sometimes.” After walking off and continuing their conversation, Kyrgios then said with a tinkle in his eye: “He’s got a bit of a dark side in him.” McEnroe then added: “If the two of us are saying that…”
That ‘dark side’ was obvious in the first round at Wimbledon when Rublev showed his anger while losing to Francisco Comesana. After surrendering a breakpoint with an unforced error, Rublev proceeded to smash his racket into his knee.
He went on to lose 6-4 5-7 6-2 7-6 to his Argentine opponent, before facing familiar questions about anger management in his post-match press conference. “I would not do it if I was able to hit the racket on the floor,” Rublev said, missing the point.
“Because we’re not allowed to hit them with the grass. I don’t know why in that moment, I couldn’t take it any more. I needed to let emotions out. But thanks, everything is fine. Again, I was a bit lucky.”
Asked if he would watch the video of himself smashing his racket in anger, Rublev replied: “I never watch those kinds of videos. No, I mean, it’s not only about watching the videos. I think in general you should try to improve yourself. It takes process and it takes time.”
At the French Open, Rublev smashed his racket, screamed at the umpire and kicked his cheer in the defeat by Matteo Arnaldi. “Completely disappointed with myself, the way I behaved, the way I performed,” he said post-match. “I don’t remember behaving worse in a Slam ever. It was the first time I ever behaved that bad. I gave Matteo wings to fly and he was flying in the third set. The problem is the head. Today basically I kill myself and that’s it. It was really bad behaviour from me.”