“It’s a damn shame”: McEnroe slams “soft” Kyrgios
John McEnroe accused Nick Kyrgios of giving tennis a bad look as Andy Murray dealt the temperamental youngster another grand slam reality check.
Murray sent the Australian No.1 packing from Wimbledon with a ruthless straight-sets fourth-round win overnight.
Britain’s title favourite dispatched Kyrgios 7-5 6-1 6-4 in less than two hours to end Australia’s interest in the singles for another year after Bernard Tomic earlier suffered a disappointing 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-4 10-8 loss to Frenchman Lucas Pouille.
Murray’s rout completed a grand slam sweep of wins over Kyrgios after he also removed the Canberran from last year’s Australian, French and US Open draws.
While he never expected Kyrgios to conquer the two-time grand slam champion, McEnroe said the way Australia’s 15th seed capitulated was a “damn shame”.
“Boy, I expected Murray to win, but not in one hour and 39 minutes,” McEnroe said from his courtside commentary box.
“This is not doing our sport any good. What’s he’s giving, 80 per cent? … This is Wimbledon, centre court; you’ve got to give 110 per cent to try to get back into it.
“I tell ya, this is hard to take a whole lot of positives out of this… it’s not just the mental part, he needs to work on his game. He doesn’t know what it takes to be a top-10 professional to win grand slams.
“I’m hoping he sees the writing on the wall before this becomes chronic, irreparable, because to me it’s getting to that point.
“He’s got as lot of thinking to do, a lot of work to do.”
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McEnroe urged the coachless Kyrgios to appoint a fulltime mentor to help the 21-year-old fulfil his “God-given talents” before his career slipped away.
“I think this would be an important time for his parents to look him the eye and people like Lleyton Hewitt, these are the people who have got to force him to look in the mirror,” said the original tennis superbrat.
“It’s a damn shame when he does this. It makes no sense whatsoever.
“He’s got to take responsibility for what’s going on.”
There was no telling the much-hyped centre-court showdown would be so one-sided as the pair played cat and mouse for much of the first set as neither was able to make any inroads on their opponent’s serve.
Out of the blue, though, Murray conjured three set points after luring Kyrgios to the net before cracking a scorching backhand crosscourt winner to have the Australian down 5-6 and love-40.
Kyrgios saved two of the set points with monster serves, but surrendered the set with a forehand volley into the net.
The miss proved the beginning of the end for Kyrgios as Murray mercilessly raced through the set to take a stranglehold on the match.
“He’s not even on the court mentally. He’s snapped,” McEnroe said.
“It looks like Kyrgios doesn’t really want to be out there.”
Kyrgios didn’t even sit down at the changeover after dropping serve to trail 2-1 in the third set as Murray moved in for the kill.
Shattered Kyrgios largely echoed McEnroe’s sentiments, agreeing he remains “a little too soft” to challenge for grand slam glory.
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Earnestly believing he could win the title, Kyrgios was unable to hide his utter devastation.
“It was a good first set. The rest of the match was pretty pathetic,” Kyrgios said.
“I was really comfortable out there the first set. I thought I was playing some really good tennis. I believed that I could win the match.
“As soon as I lost the first set, I just lost belief.”
Agreeing with three-time champion McEnroe’s scathing assessment that he crumbled under the Murray onslaught, the 21-year-old world No.18 said he lost it mentally.
“Just a little soft still,” Kyrgios said.
“I think when things get tough, I’m just a little bit soft.
“I mean, I’ve got experience, but it ultimately comes down to just laying it all out there and competing for a long time.
“I didn’t do that today at all.”
While McEnroe implored the tennis prodigy to hire a new coach, Kyrgios – the youngest player since the great Roger Federer to reach the last eight at two grand slam events – said he didn’t think there was anyone out there capable of dealing with his wavering commitment.
“Like, one week I’m pretty motivated to train and play. I’m really looking forward to getting out there,” he said.
“One week I’ll just not do anything. I don’t really know a coach out there that would be pretty down for that one.
“I mean at times, like I’ve previously said, I don’t love the sport. But, you know, I don’t really know what else to do without it.
“I obviously like playing the game. It’s a massive part of my life but, yeah, I don’t know whether … I don’t really know.”
Despite his abject dejection, Kyrgios said it was “diabolical” to suggest he might walk away from tennis.
“I just lost in the fourth round. I didn’t lose in qualifying,” he said.
“I feel like I’m doing all right.”
-AAP
