Australian bad boy, Nick Kyrgios has been 'suspended' from the Wall of Fame in his former high school, Radford College in Canberra. A photograph of him (which was placed beside a picture of Socceroos young star Tom Rogic, Australian hockey team defender Anna Flanagan and NSW cricketer Ryan Carters), was removed, and temporarily kept for safekeeping in the director of sports office. “He’s had a temporary departure from the hall [of fame], he’s actually on detention in the director of sport’s office at the moment and we’re keeping him there until his behavior improves – which we’re very confident that will happen given that he was a Radford student,” Radford principal Fiona Godfrey told Fairfax Media.
According to the principal, Kyrgios was a 'lovely bloke' at school, and she even remembers him playing a massive tennis tournament, involving staff, which he unsurprisingly won. According to her, "He only has to string together a few good tournaments and we’ll be happy to put him back up there." All good sportspeople are an influence and particularly being from Canberra, the kids all follow him quite closely and we want them to have good role models,” she added.
Despite the disagreeable public image of him projected by the media (which is actually pretty much justified), he's doing a lot of good too, which the media weirdly chooses to ignore, because it doesn't bring in the ratings. Ever since Wimbledon, Kyrgios has been donating $50 for every ace he hits to the Elena Baltacha Foundation. His tally is currently at 57 ($2850), and he hopes to reach a staggering 100 aces by the end of the season. Elena Baltacha is a former charismatic British tennis player who passed away in May last year after a tough and long drawn battle with liver cancer. Her foundation is now run by husband Nino Severino, with the single minded aim to bring quality tennis coaching to children of all backgrounds, and has drawn immense support from numerous players.