MELBOURNE, Australia -- It didn't take too long before Nick Kyrgios was drawing headlines at the 2021 Australian Open.
Down a break at 0-2 in the first set against Portugal's Frederico Ferreira Silva on Monday evening, Kyrgios turned his attention to his player's box, loudly exclaiming: "Tell your girlfriend to get out of my box!"
It's unclear exactly who and what he was referring to, but it proved the catalyst for a quick turnaround in fortunes; Kyrgios quickly broke back and evened the contest at 2, then muttering under his breath: "Wonder why?"
"Tell your girlfriend to get out of my box!" 😂
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From there, the Australian was about to take a 5-4 lead in the set before again halting proceedings, this time yelling out to a member of the crowd for speaking between his opponent's first and second serves. "Be quiet bro, have some respect for the kid," Kyrgios said.
He approached the chair umpire after that game, asking him loudly if he was going to do anything about it.
Kyrgios went on to take the first set and was rarely challenged en route to a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, victory -- occasionally offering himself some advice, in the process, and at one point asking his opponent for an unused towel during a change of ends.
After the match, he said was trying to amp himself up and adjust to the pace and expectations that come with Grand Slam tennis -- something he has missed over the past year.
"I'm a nut case when I'm on court, [but] it was just heat-of-the-battle type stuff," Kyrgios said. "It was just being out there, all those emotions again. I was almost like saying, 'Dude, it's time to wake up.' It's not just like, you know, a 250 [event]. ... [In] my mind, I was like, 'Dude, it's the Australian Open again.'"
With a year off professional tennis, Kyrgios shifted his emphasis to off-court activities, from his NK Foundation, which works with underprivileged children, to his charitable work, where he delivered much-needed groceries to Australian families in need. At last year's Open, he made a serve pledge that helped kick off a mammoth fundraising effort for bushfire relief.
He said while he feels like he always had a sense of "perspective," he is beginning to appreciate things in life other than tennis.
"I wouldn't say I don't care about [tennis] because it's something that I have dedicated my entire life toward," he said. "It's more I do a lot of things with my platform outside of tennis that I wouldn't be able to do if I wasn't a good tennis player. I think this sort of perspective that I have helps me and my game. I definitely play a bit looser than other players, but that's just the way I play.
"Like, I've got a lot of things in my life going on, and I've gone through a lot, and that's real stuff rather than, you know, losing a tennis match ... At the end of the day, I know it's just a tennis match. Obviously, I'm going to get angry as I'm playing. I'm a competitor, I always want to win. I don't beat myself up over losses."
Kyrgios also responded to the latest comments from eight-time Australian Open champ Novak Djokovic, part of a recent back-and-forth that has seemingly flipped the script in the sport and have some viewing Kyrgios as an unlikely voice of reason.
Djokovic has had an uneven year since midway through 2020, when he went ahead with his Adria Tour tournament in Croatia, at which he and a number of other big-name tennis stars contracted COVID-19. He also publicly questioned the effectiveness of masks, said he was "opposed to vaccinations," and tabled a list of requests on behalf of players in Melbourne's hotel quarantine system upon his arrival in Australia.
Djokovic again drew the ire of local fans during his pre-tournament news conference, during which the eight-time champ of Melbourne said he didn't respect Kyrgios "off the court."
"My respect goes to him for the tennis he's playing. I think he's a very talented guy, he's got a big game and he's proven that he has a quality to beat any player in the world," Djokovic said. "Off the court, I don't have much respect for him, to be honest. That's where I'll close it. I don't really have any further comments for him and his own comments for me or anything else he's trying to do."
On Monday, Kyrgios responded when asked about the Serb's comments.
"It's a strange one for me," Kyrgios said. "I read his comments. He said he doesn't respect me off the court. It actually would make complete sense to me if he was like, 'I don't respect the guy on the court,' because I understand if he doesn't agree with some of my antics on the court that I've done in the past."
Kyrgios, meanwhile, is looking to break through at his home Slam, as he next faces Frenchman Ugo Humbert on Wednesday in the second round. His best showing in Melbourne was in 2015, when he reached the quarterfinals. And he has yet to make it past that round in any Slam (his only other quarterfinals Slam appearance was in 2014 at Wimbledon). Either way, he said he won't lose his overall perspective.
"I'm extremely lucky to even be in my position. I'm healthy. You know, I've got great friends, great family and an amazing girlfriend back home. I'm blessed," he said with a smile. "Look at me, I'm a wise man now."