Nick Kyrgios’ ex-agent John Morris says the Australian’s bad-boy image is just a “protection tool” as he has described the 27-year-old as a very sweet and genuine person. Morris, who discovered Kyrgios, isn’t working with the Australian anymore but he has only good words to say about his former client.
Morris used to love watching Andre Agassi and he felt Kyrgios definitely had some similarities with the American tennis legend. “My favourite athlete of all time, without question, is Andre Agassi. We always used to say Nick is Agassi 2.0,” Morris said in an interview with The Age, per Sportskeeda.
“And yes, there were things that were unsavoury which I didn’t like but there’s a magnetism to him and a certain charisma about him. There is this magic dust that you just don’t want to touch. Just leave it be.
Just let it be because it’s bloody special.”
Morris: Kyrgios isn’t really a bad boy, he is rather sweet and genuine
Since the start of his career, Kyrgios has been labelled as the “bad boy of tennis.”
Nearly a decade later, nothing has really changed as there is no in-between when it comes to Kyrgios – as the feeling is that an average tennis fan either absolutely loves him or hates him. “He became a caricature of this bad boy image and he played up to it a little bit, but It wasn’t really him,” Morris said.
“And then you go down a path and, eventually, he just assumes the role. Even this week, he is fine playing the role of the villain. It is literally that – it’s a role. In many ways it is a stage persona, but it’s a protection tool.”
Morris, who had a chance to spend a lot of time with Kyrgios, insists the 27-year-old is very sweet off the court. “If he’s being short, with his walls up, in his mind he can’t get hurt,” Morris said. “He’s thinking, ‘If I don’t let conversations go on or if I don’t let you in, then I can’t get hurt’
I get it. But it’s a protection tool. The Nick Kyrgios I knew was a really sweet, genuine, sensitive person.”
