In public's eye Nick Kyrgios has to win everything – Sam Groth
In a column for Herald Sun, the former Australian singles player commented on situation ahead of the Australian Open. Groth believes there a lot of expectations and pressure on Kyrgios, who did not start his 2019 season great as he lost to Jeremy Chardy in the Brisbane International second round.
Groth, who will work as a tv analyst during the upcoming Australian Open, said: Nick beat the top four at a young age and now – in the publics eyes – must win everything, behave perfectly and always do the right thing.
Hes shown time and time again that its not going to happen, that hes doing things his way and that isnt going to change. We want him to win so badly but its time we asked what he might want.
Right now he is buckling under the weight of expectation thrust upon him age 18 by an audience who, for the most part, are tennis fans for two weeks of the year. Groth added: Nick is a sensitive guy; he reads what people say about him.
Social media is a dangerous environment especially when youre travelling for long periods of time, often alone and away from family. When you read bad things enough you can start to believe them. A tour is a lonely place and we need to do more to help our athletes prepare for what happens on tour and what happens afterwards.
Look at what happened with Todd Reid. We need to learn from things like this. ALSO READ: Rafael Nadal: Worse players than David Ferrer won a Grand Slam title
