Wimbledon: Australia's Nick Kyrgios battles temper tantrums to seal spot in second round

21-year-old takes eye off the ball but bounces back

Nick Kyrgios cannot hide his disgust at a missed opportunity against Radek Stepanek (Getty)

If Nick Kyrgios put as much effort into his ground strokes as his grumbling, his serve as his swearwords, he’d have won Wimbledon three times over by now.

The Australian spent a good two and half hours stalking around Court Two on Tuesday in his stooped way, chuntering and chattering to himself, to the people in his corner, to the umpire, to anyone who’d listen really. And all this in a match he won with ease, 6-4, 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 against the veteran Radek Stepanek. Imagine if it had been tight.

The 15th seed was given an official warning for swearing – he didn’t look like he’d be happy until he got one - at the end of the third set which he managed to lose on a tie-break having been serving for the match at 5-4. He spent part of the first set ranting: “You had one f***ing job” although to who was not clear. Of the umpire after the match Kyrgios said: “We’re good…well, we’re not good” and then defended his choice of profanity: “I’m pretty sure everyone in this room has said it.”

Perhaps, but that rather misses the point - and it’s that these outbursts make him miss the points. The bickering and barking reached a high after the Australian ‘bad boy’ – all that’s bad is the way he lets everything and anything affect him – failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the third. Between points in the subsequent games and tie-break he kept looking to his corner, where his father George sat with his son’s team clutching his lucky neck pendant urging him on. But Nick was not looking for support, rather he was shaking his head and sarcastically sticking his thumb up and muttering: “Good one…just what I needed” as if the entourage had momentarily taken the racket and failed to hold serve.

Nick Kyrgios reaches for a backhand during his round-one win (Getty)

What he needs is a good clip round the ear from George – but his corner indulged him and he continued with the ranting, took his eye off the ball and lost the set 11-9 in the tie break. Against a better player it could have cost him dear, against a 37-year-old he could bounce back. Stepanek, after all, was attempting to become the oldest man to win a grand slam singles match in almost 25 years.

Despite having the Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech in his corner, Stepanek could not save this one and with his head largely back on the game Kyrgios rushed through the fourth set in quick fashion - although he still found time to remonstrate with the umpire because the scoreboard had lost power, as if the man in the chair was a lazy electrician.

Kyrgios now faces his good friend Germany’s Dustin Brown in the second round. That tie should be a hot ticket because for all the Aussie’s temper tantrums he is a pleasure to watch. The 21-year-old showed wonderful touch at the net, played some deft half-volleys on the approach, unfurled his killer double-handed backhand and even found time to get the old ‘tweener’- playing the ball between his legs - out of his locker. The fact that the tweener sailed over a dumbfounded Stepanek’s head and dropped just inside the baseline and led to a break made it all the sweeter. A shot of the tournament contender for sure but it wasn’t showboating, more a necessity due to the placement of Stepanek’s preceding shot. “I only play it if I have to,” Kyrgios reasoned .

Nick Kyrgios can finally find a smile after beating Radek Stepanek (Getty)

Either side of the delightful shots the 21-year-old is a bundle of energy, twitching and fidgeting, pulling at his shirt, as if he has mites in his whites. He was even unable to sit still for the two-minute end-changes – he was often up and in position to serve or receive by the time the umpire shouted “time”. It was as if he’d left the oven on.

Kyrgios, as ever here, was cheered on by a small posse of yellow-T-shirt wearing Aussie ‘fanatics’, who intermittently broke into some pretty basic chanting and then looked mighty pleased with themselves. “They’re always good,” said the Australian. “I look at them and think ‘oh no, they’re going to be going nuts…but they bring energy.” It added some colour to the court but the quality of the play from both men was enough and Kyrgios, a two-times junior champion who burst on to the scene when he beat Rafa Nadal on his debut here in 2014 on his way to the quarter-finals, can now concentrate on his next opponent. If he could beat Brown, without turning the air blue, he could be in for a stay deep into the second week.

“I believe I can do good things in this tournament,” he said. “I believe I can go far and potentially win it.”