In the sea of clickbait, the Australian ‘bad boy’ of tennis once again makes you want to fake an accent and claim NZ citizenship A recent loss to tennis great Roger Federer has sparked an excuse from Nick Kyrgios that is apparently worthy of a headline:
"I lost concentration, I saw a really hot chick in the crowd. Like, I'm being jarringly honest - I'd marry her right now. Right now."
*Slow claps*. Yup… Kyrgios has done it again. Another comment from the rising star that we dismiss with head shakes, eye-rolls and then go about our day. But here is the problem. Eye rolls do not solve the deep and festering issue that Kyrgios is endorsing (as easy as his Nike merch) on and off the sporting field.
Ever so gradually, through cute labelling, catchy slogans and the right amount of smirking emojis, Kyrgios’s behaviour has become completely normalised. That ‘upcoming’ talent who ditched his coach, is abusive, feeds off a massive ego and prioritises video games over training, is still worthy of coverage. By any standards, this is text book 'not on' behaviour but still, we conveniently pass it off a something ‘cheeky’, something that triggers a reaction of ‘oh… that bad boy.’ Tut tut.
Kyrgios recent behaviour blaming his Laver cup loss on a ‘hot chick’ in the crowd is disturbing from three angles:
Women leading men astray
By blaming his actions on a female audience member who is in no way responsible for Kyrgios’s lack of training, attitude or anything for that matter, harks back to the good ol' days of the ‘femme fatale’ stereotype. As Tara Moss writes describing the construction of women as a distraction to men:
"The downfall of a man is not men. Man must beware the ultimate danger: the evil woman… The femme fatale could be lurking around any corner, usually with killer pins, just waiting to put her hooks in.”
We also see this chauvinism alive and well in current times. Nobel Scientist Tim Hunt, an English biochemist openly said to the World Conference:
“Let me tell you about my trouble with girls … three things happen when they are in the lab … You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry.”
Women as objects
After blaming his loss on a ‘hot chick’ and THEN proceeding to say he would 'marry her' right then and there, Kyrgios immediately objectifies her as a ‘trophy’. The spectator immediately becomes an object that can be taken wherever and whenever. Kyrgios why don’t you take Ash Barty’s actions as inspo and win an ACTUAL trophy… perhaps the Laver Cup?
Donuts inspire donut behaviour
Another obvious point. When you are in a position of power and act like a complete donut, you automatically inspire others to become, think and act like donuts. When we are exposed to Kyrgios’s true resume of appalling behaviour, it becomes clear (like Tahiti beaches, crystals, newly cleaned glass clear) that sexism, discrimination and abuse is being blanketed by an attitude of ‘a bit of banter’ and ‘entertainment’. One media outlet summed up his attitude as:
"Guys like Nick Kyrgios don’t give a darn about the sport, opponents, rules, and protocols. Hence, we are sure that Nick will keep ‘entertaining’ us for years to come. Thank you, Nick, for being there!"
Umm.... ‘thank you’ retracted, ripped and burned Nick. Let’s keep the highlight reel for those who deserve to be in the spotlight.
