Rod Laver Joins The Great Nick Kyrgios Pile-On, Tells Him To Grow Up


Nick Kyrgios has a way of getting older sporting figures all riled up, and following last week’s comments from “blatant racist” Dawn Fraser, tennis legend Rod Laver has joined the pile-on, criticising the young star’s on-court conduct. 
Throughout this year’s Wimbledon tournament, his back-talk to umpires made just as many headlines as his game, and some accused him of “tanking” in his fourth-round loss to Richard Gasquet, a claim he flat-out denied. 

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A photo posted by Nick Kyrgios #74 (@k1ngkyrg1os) on

In a revent interview with ESPN, Rod Laver, the only player to ever sweep the grand slam in two different calendar years, essentially told Kyrgios to pull his head in, and said the youngster should “just let his racquet do the talking and win matches.”
Laver rates the superiority of Kyrgios’s game, but says that he needs to mature. “Nick’s young and maybe doesn’t realise what he is doing sometimes. He’s playing with emotion, a crowd builds him up,” the Aussie great said.
“That’s certainly something he needs to grow out of, and he needs to grow out of that sooner rather than later, as his performances here … I don’t think many Australians would agree with it.”
“There’s certainly no excuse for swearing. That’s just bad behaviour that’s ugly. Maybe, in ten years from now, he will look back and think ‘maybe I shouldn’t have been like that [and] acted that way.”
Kyrgios’s defenders, including his brother Christos, have criticised coverage of the young star for focusing on his “hot-headed” temperament rather than his playing, and Laver, for what it’s worth, seems to agree.
“It’s a shame that people are talking about this rather than about his tennis,” he said. “Nick’s a great player, he has proven that the last couple of years, and now he can be a tremendous asset.”
“We’re losing Lleyton Hewitt, who is the epitome of sportsmanship and trying hard. We would like Kyrgios to take that role.”
While Laver’s heart appears to be in the right place, Hewitt is not the best example in this case – cast your mind back to his  2005 Davis Cup match against Guillermo Coria, where he swore multiple times and called an umpire a “poofter.” 
Kyrgios has not yet commented, but you’ll be pleased to know that he is back on Australian soil and ready to receive your snaps:

via NineMSN
Photo: Clive Brunskill via Getty Images

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