When he shuts his mouth and keeps his temper in check, Nick Kyrgios is a masterful tennis player. Too bad his bad-boy act is so engrained.
Kyrgios is 21, possibly ready to join the elite of the ATP Tour and stake his place among Grand Slam contenders. So all eyes were on him during Saturday's match at the U.S. Open.
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Kyrgios had a prime-time match against Illya Marchenko of Ukraine, scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on the main show court at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center in New York. It would be the perfect stage for an energetic, aggressive player to show his best to the world. It would also be the worst possible scenario for Kyrgios to misbehave.
His history of on-court rants, including a string of nasty comments in a match against Stan Wawrinka that disparated Wawrinka's girlfriend, put Kyrgios in the bull's-eye for criticism. He often is his own worst enemy. But no one doubts this upstart from Australia can play the game.
Also scheduled to play on Saturday were No. 2 seed Andy Murray; resurgent Juan Martin del Porto, who faces No. 11 David Ferrer in who should be a slugfest; Wawrinka, seeded third; and No. 6 Kei Nishikori of Japan.
Jack Sock's Friday victory is the big story for American players, a group that continues to struggle to match the dominance of the world's best players. No U.S. men were in action on Saturday
Here is the men's schedule for Sept. 3.