Nick Kyrgios on ESPN is off to a strong start: ‘The mouth still works just fine’

There was an amusing moment on Tuesday night prior to ESPN2’s Australian Open coverage of world No 4 Jannik Sinner’s straight-sets crushing of Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong.

There was Nick Kyrgios, the 28-year-old Wimbledon finalist of 2022 and one of the most popular and polarizing figures in the sport, sitting between Patrick McEnroe and John McEnroe, the longtime brothers broadcasting for ESPN. While John praised Kyrgios’ potential as a broadcaster, he also encouraged the injured Australian to keep playing for a couple more years before considering a life with a microphone.

“I’m just waiting to get healthy,” Kyrgios said. “I’m trying to balance this, balance my body. In the meantime, the mouth still works just fine.”

That was the amusing part. The more interesting part was what came next: Kyrgios breaking down Sinner’s game.

“He’s probably the cleanest ball striker that we have on tour,” Kyrgios said. “The difference between him and (Novak) Djokovic is his court position actually is a little bit closer to the baseline. He just shrinks the court. He has a skiing background. At that height (6ft 2in/188cm) and at that pace, it’s so hard to get through him and win some court position off him. His willingness to come forward has improved as well.

“Darren Cahill (Sinner’s coach), a lot of credit to him for that change of serve. It’s not a platform serve anymore; he’s sliding that foot up. That was the biggest thing for me. He’s serving much, much better and creating more opportunities for that first ball.”

U.S. tennis viewers are tough graders, right up there with soccer fans. They expect quality analysis, deep prep, and no mistakes in player name pronunciations. They get understandably angry when a host broadcaster dumbs down a telecast.

It’s foolish to make any large pronouncements on someone with such limited broadcasting experience as Kyrgios; he has only been on ESPN for a couple of days. But the initial returns? Very good. He blended in easily with the McEnroes, he was a comfortable listen, and he showed the ability to be short when needed. He also mocked himself, which viewers often appreciate.

Kyrgios will clearly benefit the ESPN audience over the next week-plus because of his tennis currency: he has faced the players he is talking about. He was even interesting on more esoteric topics, such as whether the tour should switch balls (or not) weekly.

“They play different and, on the strings, you can feel it,” Kyrgios said. “In the NBA, you don’t go to Orlando and, ‘Here’s a different ball,’ and now you’re in Milwaukee and, ‘Let’s play with a different ball.’ It’s absurd, in my opinion. And I know sponsors play a big part here, money, etc., I get it. But you have to look after the product first; otherwise, unfortunately, the level will not be there. You don’t want guys like (Carlos) Alcaraz to get injured from something…