By John Millman
There’s a fine line when you play Nick Kyrgios. There are players on the ATP Tour who think they can get inside his head and lead him down the path of self-destruction.
That’s a dangerous game to play, especially at the Australian Open. We know how emotional Kyrgios can be on court, but be careful what you wish for if you try to use those emotions against him.
When I go into matches, I try to work out how to make my opponent less dangerous. With Kyrgios, avoid waking the sleeping giant at all costs.
I saw him play Jannik Sinner at Indian Wells, and that’s what Sinner did so well.
The young Italian gave him no energy to feed off. He was cool, calm and collected. He showed no emotion. He made it boring.
Nick Kyrgios is at his most dangerous on court when he’s fired up.Credit:AP
He deliberately manipulated his own emotions to avoid firing up his opponent, because he knows a fired-up Kyrgios is very dangerous.
Kyrgios is at his most dangerous at the Australian Open when he starts engaging with the crowd. We saw it at the doubles last year.
There is a reason he plays well on John Cain Arena. The fans are vocal there and love him on that court. But it’s a hostile environment, like in the team sports Kyrgios loves so much.
He’s an entertainer. He’s a showman. He thrives when he can deliver that, even more so in his own backyard.
As soon as he starts using the crowd’s energy in a positive way, it can be the ignition for some really good tennis for the rest of the match. That’s Kyrgios at his most dangerous.
A non-combative Kyrgios is not so dangerous. I have a hell of a lot of respect for his game.
He has some proper firepower. He’s a firework ready to go off. You try not to ignite him because once he goes off, he’s nearly impossible to contain.
He’s got the weapons to take it to anyone. The game is on his racquet because of those weapons. And the scary thing for everyone else is he’s starting to believe it himself.
He genuinely believes he can win the Australian Open, and that’s half the battle – that belief that you can win seven straight matches to lift the crown.
We all know he has the game. He’s got one of the best, if not the best, serves in the world. The fact he can close out his serve so well gives him the freedom to be at his shot-making best for his return game.
That creates a lot of pressure when you go to the line to the serve because you know he can catch fire for a game and it could cost you a set.
I saw a huge change in Kyrgios last year. He was super impressive in the way he showed up and competed, week in and week out.
He’ll admit that when he was younger, that didn’t happen all the time. He wasn’t present week to week.
Last year he found the desire to be successful. We saw it at Wimbledon.
That run gave him belief, and we started to hear him talk about how much he loves the game. In the past, things were holding him back from that. He wasn’t necessarily enjoying it.
Now he has a smile on his face. He’s fallen back in love with the sport and is entering the peak of his powers.
Unfortunately, it won’t be an easy road for him with Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal still competing at an extraordinary level.
Djokovic is the favourite. He has to be. That hamstring niggle is a worry, but I still think he is the world’s best player at the moment.
It might not say that on his ranking, but we know he had a limited schedule last year due to his vaccination status.
As long as his hamstring is OK, he’s the one everyone is chasing. Good luck stopping him.
John Millman is a Channel 9 tennis ambassador. Watch the Australian Open live and exclusive on Nine.
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