Why You Shouldn't Care That Nick Kyrgios Tanked A Return Game at Wimbledon

In Australian Nick Kyrgios's 4th round tilt vs Frenchman Richard Gasquet, it appears if Kyrgios, down a set and 2-0 at that point,  tanks Gasquet's service game. You can watch the video here:

http://media.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/did-nick-kyrgios-tank-a-game-6666297.html

Now, I am not condoning his actions in anyway shape or form.  But if you go to the Wimbledon website, and click on his post-match presser, he was getting questions that bordered on the absurd.  For example - "Do you feel like you cheated the fans by tanking that game?"  Now to be fair to the reporters, the crowd did boo Kyrgios when this transpired.

However, the fans weren't cheated by his performance.  In fact, of all people, Roger Federer came to Kyrgios's defense.

http://www.businessinsider.com/roger-federer-defends-nick-kyrgios-over-tanking-2015-7

The idea that the fans were somehow cheated by his tanking is preposterous.  The game in question lasted less than a minute.  Kyrgios lost the set in question, but WON the third set, and fought hard going down in the fourth set.  So to suggest the fans were cheated for the entire match is ridiculous.  They got their money's worth, and frankly a whole lot more.  The fact that that one game happened, gives those fans who watched something to talk about for the next year or two.  Now that match is all over the news and those fans were THERE, and saw it first hand.  It has become more memorable than it would have been had he NOT tanked.

Again, I'm not condoning his actions in any way, shape, or form.  However, it is known that a player like Jimmy Connors, who we all think tried as hard as he could on every single point, was known to sometimes put less effort into a game after the first couple of points (down 30-0 on a return game) when he already had the break.  He did it to conserve energy from time to time.  He "threw" the game by going for low percentage returns that had little hope of being successful.  He just did it in a less obvious way than Kyrgios.  We don't chastise Connors, but kill Kyrgios.  That's merely because what Kyrgios did "looks" bad.  Optics.

Go back if you have 11 hours and watch the Mahut-Isner match that went 70-68 in the fifth.  You'll see two tired guys who admitted after the match that if the score in any return game got to 30-0, they threw the remaining points to simply conserve energy so they could focus on holding serve.  No one complained that they didn't get their money's worth after seeing 137 straight holds, many at love, with minimal effort being put forth in most of those service games by the returner.  Even if half of those games were at love, that 136 tanked points to conserve energy, which equates to 34 games of tanked points, which equals almost 6 6-0 sets.  Nobody complained.  Kyrgios tanked four points.  Not games, points.

Personally, I don't care if anyone tanks a match or a game, unless it's my player I'm coaching.  If some professional player decides to tank, because he's irritated at the umpire, or has a bet in on the game for him to lose, or just doesn't want to be there - while I would prefer them to just retire, I take no personal offense if they instead choose to show up and put forth a measly effort.  Now, IF that was the only match I paid to see, would i be disappointed?  Sure, but that wasn't the case on this day, although I'm sure there were some people who went to his match and his alone.  Perhaps some Aussie fans.  That's part of the risk associated with buying a ticket to a live sporting event.  The result will simply be he will have fewer fans.  Free market at work.

We are all worried that somehow Kyrgios's tanking is going to send the worng message to young players that it's ok to tank a point, a game, a match.  It has actually done the opposite.  Kyrgios looks like a complete buffoon, especially after watching his response to the tanking allegations, and every coach in the world is having a conversation with their students about tanking, and what a bad thing it is to do.

We blow a player's actions way out of proportion out of our own self-importance, all the while neglecting that if there weren't people doing ridiculous things on the court like Kyrgios, we would never feel the need to talk about the behavior in question and ensure that the students we teach and the kids we raise never repeat that mistake.    

Kyrgios has a lot of mental work to do to become a great player.  The fact he let an umpire's call rattle him to the point of tanking a game speaks to the miles he must travel mentally and emotionally in order to become great.  But let's not take it personally.  Our lives move on, either with him as a favorite player, or more likely, not.