Nick Kyrgios will not play at Wimbledon for the third successive year, with the controversial Aussie having not played at SW19 since reaching the 2022 final, where he was beaten by Novak Djokovic
John McEnroe insists he regrets that controversial star Nick Kyrgios will again miss Wimbledon – after the BBC tried to stop the tennis great from speaking about the axed Australian.
Kyrgios reached the final at SW19 in 2022, losing to Novak Djokovic. But he has not played at the Championship since.
Last year he was part of the BBC commentary team, but will not return in that role this year, despite having been forced to pull out of this year’s tournament with a knee injury. Indeed, Kyrgios’ long-term future is in question, after only playing four matches this far this year.
I asked three-time Wimbledon winner McEnroe if he will miss Kyrgios at Wimbledon this year, McEnroe said: “I don’t know what Nick’s doing. Is he playing?”
But a BBC press officer swiftly stepped in, telling McEnroe: “Sorry, John, you don’t have to go into your personal feelings with Nick Kyrgios.”
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But the often-outspoken American, who remains no shrinking violet at the age of 66, ignored the advice and continued, declaring: “I’m okay talking about Nick Kyrgios. If anyone’s heard me talk about Nick Kyrgios, it’s in the sense that I would prefer to see him playing, because he’s one of the most talented guys that I’ve seen on a tennis court.
“In any sport watching and especially someone who’s playing the same sport I play, you always try to maximise, hopefully, what you can accomplish. I didn’t feel like I did. And so you put a lot of pressure on yourself.
“And so it’s sort of a shame that he hasn’t been able to figure out the way to do that. We all have problems with that, but it’s too bad. I don’t know why he’s not playing.”
Kyrgios won’t be the only major talking point missing at SW19 this year. Line judges are out, replaced by Electronic Line Calling for the first time.
McEnroe said: “And as far as linesmen, I don’t even know how to answer that, because I had an obviously long history of linesmen, but it seems like if they have electronic equipment that works, that’s preferable.
“As fast as the balls are being hit, to expect human beings to be able to get everyone right is a big ask, even for someone who complained a lot about it.
“Do I wish I’d had electronic line calling at Wimbledon? Yes, I do. Actually. I’d have less white hair, and I might have a little more and I would have wasted less energy on that I presume. Maybe I would have been more boring.
“I wouldn’t have been here, speaking to you now, and I wouldn’t have been commentating. So I got to look at the bright side.
“But there’s something in the interaction that you miss, I believe, and there’s something about that that I think people will miss.
“But it’s also nice to know if, in fact, it’s accurate, and hopefully it’s 100% accurate, or 99.9% I don’t know what it is – you hate to have that find out later that a call that was made on match point was not accurate, that would be truly infuriating.”