Aussie young gun Nick Kyrgios is unquestionably one of the most promising up and coming players on the ATP World Tour. He has talent and flare to spare, but he has a massive personality to go with it. The problem with being a young player with a hot head is that the hot head can often get the better of you. For Kyrgios to truly become a great player, he’s going to need some proper guidance so that he gets in the right mindset as a top tennis player. Kyrgios is currently without a coach, having recently parted with long-time coach Todd Larkham, which could be a recipe for disaster. If he wants to avoid going down in flames, or at least be stuck as a good player with the occasional flash of brilliance, he’s going to need the right coach to help calm him down and guide him through the difficult early stages of what could be an amazing career.

Kyrgios has a good game. That isn’t the problem. As he searches for a new coach, he shouldn’t be worrying about making adjustments to his game. It’s all about mentality. The young Aussie needs to find someone who can help him cool his head and focus less on his showmanship and more on the man standing on the other side of the net. He’ll need someone who is good with young players and understands the pressures Kyrgios is facing. They would also have to understand Kyrgios’ mindset and attitude. Most importantly, anyone coaching Kyrgios would need incredible patience. Hot-headed guys like Kyrgios will not be changed easily, especially if what’s being changed is his hot-headed nature. Kyrgios’ coach will need to expect resistance, as instilling the discipline Kyrgios requires will not be easy.

The Dream Choices

The Role Model

There are a handful of people who could do a decent job with Kyrgios. Unfortunately, some of the best men for the job are not currently available. While instilling discipline may not be his strength, there may be no one who would understand both Kyrgios’ game and mindset better than Boris Becker. There are parallels that can be drawn fairly easily between the young Aussie and the former German star. They both broke out on the tour at a young age, they both play hyper-aggressive styles of tennis that sees great success on grass, and they both have fairly flamboyant attitudes. Stylistically, Becker would be a good fit for Kyrgios because Kyrgios’ style of play is not all that different from Becker’s.

They both have big serves, never hold back on their ground strokes and like attacking the net. Becker would be great and helping Kyrgios develop his style even more. But more importantly, Becker would understand what’s going on in Kyrgios’ head better than anyone. Like Kyrgios, Becker was a hot-head who worked the crowd and had a bit of a nasty attitude himself. Becker was ranked number one in the world and won six Grand Slam singles titles. He made it work. If he could pass on those teachings to Kyrgios, Kyrgios would be in good shape.

There are two problems with Becker as Kyrgios’ coach. One, he’s not available. He’s currently coaching Novak Djokovic and there aren’t any obvious signs of those two splitting any time soon. The second issue is, while Becker could understand Kyrgios and be able to mentor him, he may not actually instill the discipline Kyrgios really needs. True, Kyrgios could have a great career with his current attitude, Becker did pretty well for himself after all, if he could learn from Becker how to control and properly direct his emotions. But that’s always a risk that could backfire quite easily. Becker would not be the man to calm Kyrgios down. You can see it in Novak Djokovic. If anything, his on court attitude has gotten worse under Becker. It’s not uncommon to see him shouting at himself, or at Becker, and smashing racquets when he’s frustrated. True, Djokovic has always done that, but Becker has not made it better. Becker could potentially exacerbate the situation with Kyrgios. It would be a risk, but even a year or two of gleaning off Becker could work wonders for Kyrgios.

The Disciplinarian

If straight up discipline is what Nick Kyrgios requires to take the next step, he could always bring in the greatest champion builder and disciplinarian tennis has ever seen: Toni Nadal. Now, this will never happen. Even on the off chance the Toni Nadal would separate from his nephew Rafael, it’s highly unlikely that he would start coaching another professional any time soon. Especially not a non-Spaniard. Especially not a volatile youngster with a huge attitude.

Nick Kyrgios seems to be everything that Toni Nadal would despise in a tennis player. That’s why Kyrgios could use some of Nadal’s magic. Probably the biggest threat to Kyrgios’ career at this point is his attitude. He’s the type of player who could implode very easily. Rafael Nadal is perhaps the most disciplined player in tennis. He never smashes racquets. He never yells at the crowd. He almost never shows any negative emotions on court at all. Most of Nadal’s on-court expressions are his famous fist-pumps. It’s no secret that the reason for Nadal’s incredible self-control and focus is his uncle. Of course, he has the advantage of having been coached by his uncle since he was a child and had Uncle Toni’s teachings burned into him from an early age. But the fact is that Toni Nadal is the reason that Rafael Nadal is as calm, cool and collected on court.

While it may be too late for Kyrgios to become Nadal in that sense, it could be possible for Toni Nadal to get a message through. He could help Kyrgios calm down and focus a little bit. A lot of greats had fiery tempers: Connors, McEnroe, Becker, Djokovic. The key for Kyrgios is surviving his own emotions. He’ll never be as relaxed as Rafael Nadal. But Toni Nadal could help him calm down to a point that his emotions aren’t ruling him on court, which tends to happen and not always with a positive result. Toni Nadal could get Kyrgios to focus more on tennis, rather than the spectacle that follows it.

Photo Courtesy of The Express UK

Toni Nadal and Boris Becker would probably be the two best candidates for Nick Kyrgios, which is unfortunate because it would probably be years before either was available, at which point it would be too late. However, there are a couple of available coaches out there for Kyrgios who could do a good job.

The Real Options

For this writer, looking at Nick Kyrgios conjures up memories of Marat Safin. Safin was a monster-hitting, emotionally driven player who reached the top of the game at a very young age. At the age of 20, Safin won the US Open in 2000, defeating Pete Sampras in the final. He reached the number one ranking later that year. By his 21st birthday, he was one of the biggest names in tennis.

While Kyrgios hasn’t quite reached the level that, he’s a young player with a powerful game, is very extroverted on court and has had relative success in slams. Despite Safin’s incredible potential, he would lose his number one ranking not long after turning 21 and would only win one more Grand Slam title, coming at the 2005 Australian Open. He never reached another slam final after the age of 25. In fact, he only won more than three matches at a slam once more in his career. His emotions, and big hitting game, would get the better of him. Kyrgios could be going down the same path. Safin should not coach Kyrgios. Besides the fact that he’s busy in Russian Parliament, it seems like putting the two big personalities of Safin and Kyrgios together would probably blow up in their faces.

The Veteran

However, the man who led Safin to his mid-career renaissance is available and could be a good choice. Peter Lundgren has a great resume. He’s the man who kick-started Marcel Rios’ career. Rios would reach number one in 1998. He then took over coaching a young Roger Federer. It was under Lundgren’s guidance that Federer won his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2003. After Federer, Lundgren began coaching Safin, leading him to back-to-back Australian Open finals in 2004-2005, winning the latter.

After Safin, he coached Marcos Baghdatis, Grigor Dimitrov, Stan Wawrinka and Daniela Hantuchova. While Lundgren hasn’t had much success lately, his best results came with nutcases. Rios, Safin, and even young Federer were all players with attitude problems. And despite that, Lundgren did a great job at helping those young players overcome their egos and achieve great success. That’s the very task he would have with Kyrgios. He’s done it several times already. And while it’s been a while since he led a player to great success, it’s also been a while since he coached a young player with a big attitude. Lundgren has tons of experience dealing with crazy youngsters like Kyrgios. He’s one of the best equipped coaches in the world to deal with Kyrgios and all the baggage that comes with him.

Photo Courtesy of Tennis World USA

The Home Hope

Another option for Kyrgios would be another Australian who also has a Safin connection. Darren Cahill was supposed to take over coaching Safin in 2002, only to be whisked away by Andre Agassi. Cahill went on to do great things with Agassi over the final years of the American’s career. This leaves the world wondering what might have been had Cahill chosen Safin over Agassi. Agassi often talked about Cahill in his autobiography as a calming presence. A calming presence is exactly what Kyrgios needs.

It’s hard not to wonder what would have happened if Cahill had helped Safin pull himself together while he was still young. Clearly Cahill felt that he could achieve something with Safin. Considering the fact that Safin and Kyrgios have a lot in common, it seems plausible that Cahill could see himself being able to do good things with Kyrgios. It’s a chance for him to build the champion he opted out of in 2002. It would be a similar test, breaking down a young player with a big ego who hits the ball hard. Cahill also has the Aussie connection. There could be some genuine desire for “the next great Aussie star” to succeed. Add to the fact that Cahill built the last great Aussie star, Lleyton Hewitt, who also had a fiery attitude, Cahill has experience with players whose egos are inflated by early success. There are players who Cahill might fit better with, but he could certainly do well with Kyrgios.

It will be interesting to see how long Kyrgios goes without a coach. His best part of the year, the grass season, has passed. But the speedier hard courts are ahead and there’s no real reason why he shouldn’t be able to translate his power game to the hard courts of North America or the indoor courts of Europe. But as he is a young player, he should probably find a hand to guide him sooner rather than later. The best options may not be available, but Kyrgios certainly has some good options out there. He needs someone who will help him get his attitude in check. Sure, he might be able to succeed focusing on hyping up the crowd rather than consistently hitting a clean ball. But the most of the greats, the Federers, Nadals, Borgs, tend to be the ones who keep their emotions under control. Kyrgios be finding a coach to help him focus on that rather than get a bigger round of applause.

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About the author
Pete Borkowski
Tennis has always been my obsession. What better way to channel that obsession than writing about it? After 18 months of blogging with Sportsblog.com as the writer of A Fan Obsesseds blog, all the while completing my Bachelors in history and French, I joined VAVEL so that I can better share my love and knowledge of tennis with the world.