By Thom Gibbs
Every episode of Good Trouble, Nick Kyrgios’s podcast, begins with the same mission statement. “We celebrate those who have the courage to disrupt the norms… In each episode we’ll sit down with game-changers who aren’t afraid to rock the boat.”
On Tuesday night that fearless rule-breaking was taking place at the New Wimbledon Theatre with a recording in front of a live audience. This is a path taken by almost everyone with a successful podcast. As acts of rebellion go, it is hardly Tiananmen Square.
Nick Kyrgios has taken his podcast to the stage with mixed success.Credit: Photograph by Chris Hopkins
Over 14 previous episodes, Kyrgios has hosted an outspoken guest, with appearances from Piers Morgan, Mike Tyson and John McEnroe. On Tuesday Kyrgios was the subject, with questions asked by Gordon Smart. The guest presenter and archive footage did most of the heavy lifting, and it was for the best.
Kyrgios, 30, arrived aggressively relaxed, sleek and smart in patterned hoodie, black jeans, black cap and bright white trainers. He looked ready to play at Wimbledon next week, where he was a beaten finalist in 2022. Instead injuries have limited him to five matches in the past three years.
While he recovers he has made exploratory steps towards broadcasting. “At this point he is a tennis influencer,” said Andy Roddick earlier this year, which was not meant as a compliment. The BBC has decided against using Kyrgios in its 2025 Wimbledon coverage.
There was some mickey-taking about more or less everyone in the sport, always with affection and charm. Before his breakout win over Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2014 Kyrgios’s coach told him: “You’re probably not going to win today.” Once the match started, Kyrgios realised, “this guy’s not even that good”. There was some unhelpful innuendo about the nature of Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz’s relationship. There was sadness too.
Asked what was his worst moment in tennis he replies “jeez I’ve had a lot of bad matches,” before settling on defaulting at the Italian Open in 2019 against Casper Ruud, when he threw a chair across the court. He said he thinks of his Wimbledon final defeat by Novak Djokovic every day although one of the night’s biggest laughs is remembering what Catherine, Princess of Wales, said to him after that game: “Great work, well played,” then what Kyrgios thought at the time, “How would you know?”
Princess Catherine presents the runners-up trophy to Nick Kyrgios.Credit: AP
We see a lovely home video from his childhood showing Kyrgios lip-syncing with BRIT School flair to Breathe, from Lin Manuel-Miranda’s musical In the Heights. This fits the tone of Good Trouble, which has softened Kyrgios, positioning him as a reasonably convincing nice bloke.
Clearly this is at odds with many years of ugly tantrums, and indeed his own marketing as a maverick. “I just enjoy being a little s— sometimes, I like causing mischief” he said, growing into the evening. But also: “I’ve never been this nervous for anything in my life. Playing in front of the Royal Box has nothing on this.” He claimed he had “four vodkas out the back” beforehand.
Kyrgios likes a drink. It runs through this show and came up in an interview with Louis Theroux earlier this year, when he said he used to indulge five or six nights a week with up to 30 drinks a night. He has also suffered with depression and self-harm. It sounds like there are some unresolved issues about tennis being foisted upon him by his family, who saw a less promising future in Kyrgios’s favoured sport of basketball.
Nick Kyrgios practising at the All England club on Thursday.Credit: Getty Images
He has said repeatedly he is far from in love with the sport which made his name and it is worth viewing his angry behaviour through this prism. Perhaps only golf is more fury-inducing for its competitors. Imagine playing all that tennis when you are not even sure you like it.
Things turn south after the interval. When this tour was announced audiences were promised “a HUGE surprise guest for a candid, unscripted exchange”. In Wimbledon this was Daniel “Horse” Horsfall, Kyrgios’s manager, business partner and childhood friend. He is charismatic enough but his memories of teenage Pokemon sessions and knowledge of Kyrgios’s many fines is not enough to carry a show. There is an interactive quiz, as bad and momentum-killing an idea in a theatre as it is at a wedding reception.
The second half begins with Kyrgios doing shots on stage with two audience members. It has the feel of something he will be recounting on another podcast 10 years from now as a low ebb. Down the road from a tournament he should be playing in, which he came close to winning, joylessly downing vodka to muted cheers from a respectable audience.
There is no need to be too pious about this. Clearly there is a market for boozy yarns in this setting, hence the continued viability of the Paul Gascoigne live show. Gazza is a more damaged character, with a similar rap sheet, but at least he has some riotous stories to tell. Kyrgios trades instead in “partying” as a verb, with little added detail.
We heard one anecdote about going out with Roger Federer, who is inevitably on the champagne, and an implication that he is tight with his money. But mostly it sounds like drinking for its own sake. We’ve all done it, we’ve all enjoyed it, but it is thin gruel without the well-honed tales which justify hedonism in an audience’s eyes.
Few in attendance had their best night of the year but few went home disappointed, despite punchy pricing – $170 for a stalls tickets feels questionable for a handful of decent Kyrgios quips and the consummate presenting skills of Smart. The highlight of the night was a video clip.
The screen shows Kyrgios sitting down between games at the Citi Open in Washington DC, then hurling a water bottle at an umpire’s chair with absolute venom. He is chided, then claims repeatedly that “it slipped out of my hand”. It brings the house down.
Truly he was a brilliant tennis bad boy, a prolific and often witty irritant in a sport which can take itself too seriously. The question is now what Kyrgios becomes next.
London Daily Telegraph
