French Davis Cup captain believes that Nick Kyrgios can be ‘incredible’ for Tennis despite being on the verge of being suspended from the ATP World Tour.
The Australian is currently serving a probation period from the ATP World Tour due to his latest antics which included calling umpire Fergus Murphy a ‘potato’ and spitting at him in Cincinnati.
There has been criticism towards Kyrgios for his actions and also criticism towards the ATP at the timing of the ruling.
It wasn’t until after the Laver Cup in September that Kyrgios was punished and even the action taken was as soft as it comes.
Despite the criticism, French Davis Cup captain Sebastian Grosjean has said that Kyrgios can be incredible for Tennis if he controls his emotions.
Speaking exclusively to puntodebreak.com, Grosjean explained why he thinks Kyrgios is positive for the sport, “He is a great guy off-court and I am very sad that he has a hard time controlling himself when he is competing,” Grosjean said.
“If he manages to control his emotions, he will be incredible for the sport. I know he is working towards this and I think a psychologist could be great help.
“If you ask in the locker room about him, the vast majority have a good perception of Nick, his problem only occurs on the court.”
It remains to be seen whether Kyrgios can turn his behaviour around and channel his emotions to fulfil his talent in the future.
But for now there are more questions than answers surrounding Kyrgios as he looks to re-focus ahead of the 2020 season.
As for Grosjean, he is preparing to lead France in the Davis Cup Finals which starts on the 18th of November in Madrid at the Caja Magica.
The new format sees France in a group with Serbia and Japan, with the winner of each group and the two best runners-up advancing to the quarter-finals.
Despite the format change Grosjean remains confident that many of his players will compete in November, “For our country it has not been easy to consume the changes,” the Frenchman said.
“But these things require their time and above all there is the pride of representing France. All the players I have been told that they are willing to compete, including Lucas Pouille, who was very critical of the changes. I want to have the best team possible.”
France are looking to win their second Davis Cup title in three years although they may have to go through Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal if they want to achieve this.
