{"id":354973,"date":"2026-01-06T10:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T10:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/354973\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T10:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T10:25:11","slug":"former-wimbledon-champion-warns-nick-kyrgios-there-can-be-no-excuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/354973\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Wimbledon champion warns Nick Kyrgios there can be ‘no excuses’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nick Kyrgios<\/a> missed a big chance to send out a message to men\u2019s tennis with his performance in the \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 match against Aryna Sabalenka,<\/a> according to Australian tennis legend Pat Cash.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios is pushing to claim a wildcard at the Australian Open later this month, but there are big doubts over the fitness levels of a player who has struggled with a succession of injuries and hardly played any matches over the last three years.<\/p>\n

He is now on the comeback trail once again at the age of 30 and is playing his ATP Tour comeback event in Brisbane this week, which he hopes will give him a chance to claim a ticket to the first Grand Slam of this New Year.<\/p>\n

While Kyrgios is a big draw and may be popular with Australian fans attending the tournament in Melbourne, plenty of high-profile voices have suggested he does not deserve to be awarded a wildcard by Tennis Australia.<\/p>\n

Now 1987 Wimbledon champion Cash has joined the debate, as he spoke exclusively to Tennis365 in his role as an ambassador for this week\u2019s Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open.<\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/p>\n

Does Venus Williams deserve her Australian Open wildcard and should Nick Kyrgios get one?<\/a><\/p>\n

Former British No 1 gives his verdict on Nick Kyrgios getting an Australian Open wild card<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI remember this great advice given to me by a former Australian Open runner-up, Kim Warwick,\u201d began Cash, speaking to Tennis365.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a terrible arm and elbow problem and he came back on the tour and I remember saying to him, \u2018oh my God, you look so fit\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018mate, the elbow doesn\u2019t stop me running\u2019. He\u2019d been running and sprinting and jumping and leg pressing, doing all that kind of stuff. It doesn\u2019t stop me getting faster or stronger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say that was the same case for Nick. There is no excuse, unless you haven\u2019t got your heart right in it, to come back absolutely ripped. He didn\u2019t look bad, but when you come back on tour, you have to make a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no denying his talent and his shots, so to come back looking really fit would have been a sign. All the other players would have said \u2018gee, he looks good, I\u2019m not going to outlast him\u2019. But that doesn\u2019t look like the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will see after six months of playing matches because he should be fitter and in great form. And he is a danger, certainly on a fast court like grass. That is something you would think he would have a goal towards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cash was unimpressed by the entire spectacle of the \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 clash between Kyrgios and women\u2019s world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> and he suggested the straight sets win for his compatriot was a blow to the WTA Tour.<\/p>\n

Iga Swiatek\u2019s 6-0, 6-0 win against Amanda Anisimova in last year\u2019s Wimbledon final<\/a> was a blow to the credibility of the women\u2019s game and Cash suggests the \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 match may have a similarly negative impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched a little bit of it just as to sort of get an idea of the set-up and and I think they had a massive, massive failure as far as the courts was concerned,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Jimmy Connors played Martina Navratilova a few years ago, he had more court to cover and that was a decent contest so they would have to tweak that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen having one serve. If you want to even it up, she\u2019s got to have two serves. That one of the big strengths of her games.<\/p>\n

\u201cNick was just playing it safe and he knew that if he kept rallying Aryna would make a mistake.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I was a little but concerned that people would be saying what they are saying now. How can a guy who has won one match in three years beat the world No 1 on a smaller court in straight sets?<\/p>\n

\u201cSure, it was just a bit of fun and it was a good spectacle, but on the back of the Wimbledon final that was just a disaster of a match, with one player in Swaitek playing amazingly and Anisimova being very nervous, I\u2019m not sure we needed this (Sabalenka vs Kyrgios) match.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they didn\u2019t want is exactly what happened, unfortunately. These matches will come and go and we shouldn\u2019t take them too seriously, but it certainly hasn\u2019t helped the WTA Tour at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a great tour, there are lots of players who can win the Grand Slams and in the end, I was a bit disappointed by it all. It was just a whole bunch of money to be made for the players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kyrios will need a wild card to get into the Australian Open<\/a> and his current ATP Ranking is down at No 671 and he insists he is not<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be that player that takes opportunities away from young people that have been really working towards this moment of having a wildcard,\u201d said Kyrgios.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I said, couple of the boys before, (John) Millman gave his wildcard up for me at the French Open (in 2013) when he was injured and he wasn\u2019t feeling 100 per cent, and that\u2019s where everything kicked off for me, my whole career.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, after that moment, I became a different player mentality-wise, and physicality I learned so much. I knew physically I was so far behind the 8 Ball. I knew mentally I believed I could win, but I had so much work to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m feeling great and I get through this week and I feel I can perform at the Australian Open and really enjoy it and give the people \u2013 they are paying good money to be there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m not able to give them the Kyrgios experience, then I would genuinely rather give it to someone that earned the wildcard and really is in tip-top shape to start off something special in their career.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pat<\/p>\n

Pat Cash at the Bank of China Hong Kong Open<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Iga Swiatek gives her honest opinion on Aryna Sabalenka & Nick Kyrgios\u2019 \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nick Kyrgios missed a big chance to send out a message to men\u2019s tennis with his performance in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-354973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}