Nick Kyrgios reveals ‘Donald Trump traits’ as he blames tennis followers in Australian Open exit
Nick Kyrgios’ behaviour during his first-round Australian Open defeat has been compared to Donald Trump as he endured a frustrating home Grand Slam comeback
Nick Kyrgios’ behaviour during his Australian Open defeat has been compared to United States president-elect Donald Trump.
The 29-year-old played his first singles game at his home Grand Slam since 2022 after a string of career-threatening injuries. But it wasn’t a happy return as he was beaten 7-6(3) 6-3 7-6(2) by 23-year-old Brit Jacob Fearnley in the first round.
Kyrgios cut an extremely frustrated figure throughout the game as his usual overzealous antics reared again, with the firebrand repeatedly ranting towards his own box and forcing commentators to apologise for bad language he could be heard using.
Speaking to OLBG, body language expert Darren Stanton described Kyrgios as ‘self-loathing’ before making the comparison between his on-court behaviour and Trump. “Nick Kyrgios flashed disgust when losing the first set. He knew he wasn’t performing to his best and he knew he was in trouble at that stage of the match,” Stanton said.
“He’s blaming the crowd and the noise from spectators but there’s always going to be noise. He’s a professional and he knows what the crack is. Where he’s talking to his coaching staff, he flashes disgust and anger.
“He points his chin up to his team with his head back, it’s a billy goat gesture. It’s a gesture that you see from Conor McGregor where he’s trying to intimidate and undermine his opponent.
“Generally, it’s a prime evil gesture of anger where people show their chin and bring their head back as a sign of arrogance and dominance. It’s a fighting gesture.”
“We also see that Kyrgios is occupying space. The more space we occupy, the more important we are. Donald Trump does this a lot too. Kyrgios has his hands on hips, his feet spread apart and he’s saying ‘look at me, I’m the most important person here’.
“Kyrgios is self-loathing, he’s angry at himself and he’s blaming the crowd for the noise in his early exit at the Australian Open.”
Following his defeat, Kyrgios admitted he has “probably” played his final singles game at the Australian Open. “Realistically I can’t really see myself probably playing singles again here, so it was special,” he said. “Like taking that in, it was pretty good.
“I didn’t want to just throw in the towel and walk off or retire. I was hurting physically. I respect my opponent. The fans waited hours to come see me play. Realistically I can’t see myself playing a singles match here again.”
