Nick Kyrgios Wants a Different Fan Base in Tennis – “I Really Want Tennis to Grow”

Apart from his ‘tennis brat’ image, Nick Kyrgios is as known as the entertainer of the sport. Be it his ping-pong sessions with the kids, tweeners and underarm serves during matches, his match point ritual of asking spectators to where to serve and sharing high-fives with the audience in the middle of the match usually, these activities amuse the tennis audience.

Nick Kyrgios was once told about him ‘adding a bit of a twist to this new modern-day tennis’ and the Australian feels that his unusual on-court activities are contributing towards the welfare of the sport. Certainly, his entertaining form of tennis entices the people and expands the fan base of tennis.   

“I think it’s very important,” Nick Kyrgios said. “You know, I think people are so concerned about keeping fans in the game, but I personally believe it’s about bringing in a whole new different fan base to the game.”

World Number 29, Nick Kyrgios compared tennis to American sports, where there is a constant engagement between the spectators and the professionals. The audience keeps cheering during the matches and the audience lives every moment with the players.

“I think you look at American sports like NBA, NFL, I mean, so exciting. I think they do it the right way, and I’m just trying to bring new fans to the sport. That’s one of my goals, actually, and I really want, you know, tennis to grow. I think there is so much potential for it to grow,” the Australian mentioned.

Nick Kyrgios later touched upon the topic of the future of tennis and how it could look like. “I look at all the young players coming up, Tsitsipas, Felix, these guys, they all have different personalities. I think if the higher-up people in the tennis market them the right way and we play the entertaining tennis we do, I think tennis can become pretty cool,” he added.

At Western & Southern Open 2019, Nick Kyrgios was penalized with a hefty fine $113,000 for five different examples of unsportsmanlike conduct by the Association of Tennis Professionals. And tennis followers had termed him as a ‘disgrace’ to the sport.