Nick Kyrgios: Top 6 infamous moments as he prepares for Wimbledon quarter-final

Some purist tennis fans may not like it, but Nick Kyrgios is the name on most people’s lips this Wimbledon as the mercurial Australian charges through the men’s singles draw.

Dubbed the bad boy of The Championships, Kyrgios’ behaviour has riled and excited many in equal measure. He is not your average strawberries-and-cream tennis player. That’s what has made him so watchable, the most volatile player to step on to the grass at SW19 for many a year.

What happened last Saturday night, when Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas produced one of the most heated matches in Wimbledon history, has put him once again right back in the spotlight. While he had justification in calling out Tsitsipas’s extraordinarily reckless firing of a ball into the crowd, Kyrgios’s constant chuntering, swearing and discourse with the umpire did not curry favour with many. After the match, Tsitsipas called the Australian a “bully”. Yet ultimately it was Kyrgios who won the match.

Kyrgios has surely dethroned John McEnroe as the enfant terrible – but while the American backed up his antics by winning not one, but three Wimbledon titles, Kyrgios has yet to burst past the last-eight stage of any major. He has the hallmarks of a stroppy teenager, yet is box-office for the sport, a must-watch with his unique style of tennis. Massive aces are followed by under-arm serves, tweeners, episodes of tanking and then 130mph forehands. He has it all.

At the age of 27, Kyrgios should be at his peak. He’s certainly playing some excellent tennis amidst the maelstrom. Backed by a support-team lead by his fiancée Costeen Hatzi, Kyrgios looks in the mood. He fancies this. He wants to win Wimbledon. And he is a warm favourite to at least make the semi-finals this time