MELBOURNE, Australia – Here on the island that was once the middle of the boys's tennis world – the land of Laver and Rosewall, Emerson and Newcombe and other gods of the sport – the strangest dynamic has emerged.
The remainder of the world is obsessive about Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. Down here it's all about your individual tennis yin and yang.
One of them is a top 10 player who will do his best to avoid controversy while devoting all his energy to the game. The other is an unranked unicorn who feels most at home in the center ring of a three-ring circus. Someone has made it to the highest of the sports elite. The other has more natural tennis talent in his veins than anyone else on the planet, based on almost every other player and a few big names of the past, including Goran Ivanisevic and Andy Roddick.
The Australian Open 2025 is stuffed with current events from each.
Alex de Minaur, the world number 8, and Nick Kyrgios, back after a two-year battle with knee and wrist injuries, headline their country at Melbourne Park. Kyrgios hosts the evening session on the John Cain Arena on Monday before De Minaur headlines the Rod Laver Arena, the pantheon of Australian tennis, on Tuesday night.
They are each contemporary celebrities; they couldn't be less similar.
Kyrgios has returned to the middle of the tennis world as only he can, swinging his confidence like a broadsword within the direction of everyone he meets, whether or not they wish to duel or not. He doesn't also have a rating after such an extended injury layoff.
But despite being at the underside of the ranks of his compatriots by way of numbers, there isn’t any doubt about who’s filling the stadiums. He has spent much of the past few months trolling world No. 1 Sinner over his doping case, spreading lurid conspiracy allegations on social media and filling comment sections with needle emojis. That included posting them within the comments section of fellow Australian and son of Lleyton Hewitt, Cruz, who posted a photograph of him and Sinner that was probably the most effective moment of his tennis life.
Sinner isn't too completely satisfied about this, albeit not directly. “I don't think I have to answer that,” he said angrily when Kyrgios' comments were brought up in a press conference on Friday.
For Kyrgios, who is amazingly talented but at all times ambivalent about life as a tennis skilled – and at all times able to turn games into spectacles by insulting referees, officials and people sitting in his own player box and mocking his opponents – all the pieces was as usual.
He has sought more nuance in other areas of his life. In early 2023, Kyrgios pleaded guilty to assaulting his then-girlfriend Chiara Passari in 2021, but was not convicted. He was open about living with depression and said his mental health contributed to his behavior.
“We watch sport because we want personalities,” Kyrgios said on Friday. “Every time I step on the court I don’t know if I’m going to be very controversial, for better or for worse. Over the course of my career it wasn't always good, but it added a lot of excitement to the game. I think it's important.
“There are so many good players on the tour now. I don’t think there are that many contrasting personalities.”
How tall is Kyrgios here? He lost his first-round singles match on Monday night in straight sets to Jacob Fearnley of Great Britain (like Andy Murray, a Scot). As he was carrying an injury throughout, much of the outing was temporary – and for him, getting back from an 18-month break, it may possibly have been a warm-up exercise.
He will wish to fill the stadiums for the doubles, which he’ll play along with his close friend Thanasi Kokkinakis. The duo – often called the “Special Ks” – won the title here in 2022, a run that played to loud, drunken crowds and turned the doubles competition right into a national event.
In his post-match press conference following the loss to Fearnley, Kyrgios made a more emphatic admission: “I don’t see myself playing singles here again.”
Nick Kyrgios drew the crowds at Melbourne Park (Graham Denholm / Getty Images)
His contrast to de Minaur couldn't be more stark. Kyrgios is 193cm tall, a master of trick shots and creativity with among the best serves on the planet. De Minaur is half a foot shorter and considering how slim he’s, he seems smaller.
Always envied for his unmatched speed, de Minaur spent the primary few years after the pandemic lurking on the planet's top 20. He carried his country's hopes right into a fourth-round match against Novak Djokovic here in 2023. Djokovic said he used the moment to exact revenge on Australia for its deportation last 12 months over his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19. He destroyed his favorite tennis son 6:2, 6:1, 6:2.
Then, last May, de Minaur's profession arc took a pointy upward turn.
He is half Spanish and spent much of his childhood there, but never had much interest in clay court tennis events. He can run like a deer; he can change direction like a running puppy; it has an enormous engine. He is ideally suited to the physical, intense play that the surface requires, and he has never relied for his success on an enormous serve that a clay court could neutralize.
He defeated Daniil Medvedev – who hates sand – and reached the quarterfinals of the 2024 French Open in a smattering of rain and clouds, shouting to his friends and coaches: “I love the sand.” I find it irresistible here. I can’t get enough.”
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He got plenty of “I told you so” from these coaches. He then reached the quarter-finals at each Wimbledon and the US Open, only to be eliminated by cruel bad luck when he was injured at the tip of his fourth-round victory. Despite his stocky hips, he fought his method to the year-end finals and placed himself within the elite group of the highest eight.
He was already an enormous star in Australia. Beyond his home country, he was best often called a star boyfriend, the guy who took the following flight out of Acapulco, Mexico, after winning the ATP event there last March to satisfy his partner, the English top 30 – WTA player Katie Boulter, seen playing in the ultimate the following evening in San Diego, California. The effort set the bar for all Friends, in sports or otherwise, and transcended from sports coverage to morning television shows. He proposed to Boulter within the off-season. She said yes.
At the French Open last May, while walking through the corridors beneath Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros, he explained that he desired to evolve from a grinder to someone with the additional boom to often hit the ball through the court. Maybe even get just a few easy points on serve. He was too easily pushed around.
“I was exposed and bullied a little bit,” he said.
Alex de Minaur has risen to the highest eight on the planet within the last 12 months (Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
When de Minaur arrived on the ATP Tour six years ago, he weighed just over 150 kilos (68 kg) dripping wet. After some training within the gym, he now weighs about 167 kilos, and over the past 12 months his weight and strength have reached a tipping point. He was finally in a position to bring the most effective players on the planet back to their feet with a mix of newfound power and increased speed on his groundstrokes.
“It was always about getting stronger and putting a little more weight on myself,” he said. “My ball weight is also a bit bigger and ultimately that's what I needed to compete against the best players in the world.”
He did not win a game in these year-end finals. Nevertheless, he believed he had arrived.
“I have overcome a big hurdle in my career and now it’s about taking advantage of my position,” said de Minaur.
Kyrgios doesn’t object. In his press conference on Friday, he recalled the primary time he met de Minaur when he got here to a Davis Cup match as a training partner as an adolescent. One day Kyrgios decided to play some balls with him. He brought a beer to court and thought it wasn't too serious.
“I thought to myself, 'I'm going to go out there and teach this little kid a lesson.' (But) It was a really tight set. I was in my prime. He was only 17,” he said. “To see how well he has managed to be our No. 1 player over the last three or four years – he has grown.
“I've been there. I haven't at all times coped well with it.”
No, he didn't. Can he do it now? Can he be the player to reach a Wimbledon final again?
Kyrgios will never approach a game with great humility. He has said that his sport requires a certain level of delusion.
“If I play my style of tennis, my unpredictability, I have a chance against anyone. That’s the attitude you have to have,” he said on Friday. “If I had gone on court for the first time against Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and been realistic, I probably wouldn't have won. A kid from Canberra goes out there and beats them… That can't be realistic. You have to think: “I am the best tennis player in the world.” Is that realistic? Probably not. But that’s what I think when I’m out there.”
This is perhaps the only similarity between the two, although de Minaur expresses his opinion somewhat differently. He said he became a better version of himself with every Australian Open he passed. He learned a lot. The victory created self-confidence.
“If it was solely based on rankings it would be a pretty boring sport, but anything can happen at this stage,” he said. “We have seen that opportunities arise and many doors open.
“There is always a chance. Every time you go to a tournament you always have to remember that there is a chance.”
image credit : www.nytimes.com