Wimbledon: Nick Kyrgios proving to be real rascal with a racquet

Nick Kyrgios just nodded when it was pointed out that his win over Canadian Milos Raonic was symbolic of progress. A year ago at Wimbledon the player currently with the most oomph in his serve dumped the Australian from the draw.

A 5-7, 7-5, 7-6, 6-3 win reversed that and pushed Kyrgios into the fourth round, where he now meets Richard Gasquet.

Of the third-round matches, this was the toughest, with Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka both winning in straight sets.

Once again it was the energy and animation of Kyrgios that served up something different in a week where the top seeds are still content to plot their way into the next phase.

It wasn’t just his engagement with the fans, the trouncing of his racquet or that he had to replace a headband because it had too much colour; it was also the breadth of his game and the mischief he and it provide.

Shattered

Kyrgios is also a rascal and anti-authoritarian, which makes

for a row around every corner at Wimbledon. On court he looks for it in officials, in the crowd, with his racquet. He feeds off distraction and it seems to make him better; others would perish in a mess of shattered concentration.

He is more content when he’s confronting someone or something, yet his serving in the first set was focused and immaculate. His win rate of the first bomb was at one point a preposterous 96 per cent.

In the conference room he was still in petulant, combative mode, in no mood to compromise and perfectly willing to take offense and be uncooperative when there was no need. He was wonderful.

You really turned it on, was it the headband? “No.” Did the headband help? “No.” Was it a tip to anyone? “No.” Can you explain the headband? “What kind of question is that?”

He bought the headband in an official Wimbledon shop but there was too much purple and green on it to wear on court, so he was asked to turn it around. Naturally it's players like Dustin Brown, the free spirit who dumped Rafa Nadal out of the tournament, with whom he identifies.

“Dustin was very entertaining. I was watching it,” said Kyrgios. “You know, I knew what he was feeling, because he is sort of like me last year. I thought he played some really courageous tennis as well. The crowd loved it. He’s very unorthodox what he does out there and I thought it was pretty cool.”

The style and brio of players like Federer aside, Kyrgios also believes the sport needs an injection of fun, and maybe an iconoclastic view wouldn’t be all that bad either.

Playing with personality and showing character have been missing at the top in recent years. He’s not there just yet but the baggage he has brought this week has been broadly welcomed as counterpoint to some blandness.

Asked about the lack of characters, he said: “I like to watch entertaining tennis. As you say, Dustin Brown, Gaël Monfils, those guys have a lot of fun out there. At the same time, a guy like Federer, I love watching guys like that as well.

“They’re unbelievable tennis players. I’m [not] the biggest believer in saying nothing out there or being a robot. I feel you should express yourself.”

Yelling Aussies

At one point against Raonic, who was seeded seven, Kyrgios engaged with the fans. In his last match he also spoke up to a gang of 22 yelling Aussies in yellow T-shirts. He hears them and he answers back

“That’s really funny mate,” he sarcastically said to a spectator midway through the Raonic tie. More confrontation. “Yeah. I thought she said something like, ‘pull your head in or something’,” explained Krygios.

“She started laughing. I thought that’s what she said. I didn’t really find it funny. It’s easy when you’re just sitting there and you’re just watching, when you’ve got no experience at all on the court.”

Week one and there’s still a shot of colour. That can’t be bad.