Comment: Emotions make-or-break for Nick Kyrgios

Nick Kyrgios
There was racquet throwing. There was swearing. There was even having a go at the crowd and a linesperson.
At the end of it all, there was an Australian in the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park for the first time since 2005.
And it came in a style that man in 2005 – Lleyton Hewitt – would have been proud of as Kyrgios fought back, saved a match point and beat Andreas Seppi 5-7 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 8-6.
"The most nervous I've ever been" is how Kyrgios felt before taking to Hisense Arena.
He took it out on his racquet, on a linesperson and on himself – his constant muttering showcasing his frustration.
Kyrgios' emotions worked against him, and the ultimate professional in Seppi made him pay.
The Roger Federer-conqueror and Italian stayed consistent – on all levels – on his way to a two-sets-to-love lead.
Take away the scoreboard and Seppi would give you no indication as to whether he is two-sets-to-love up or two-sets-to-love down.
Kyrgios described the break early in the third set as the turning point – and it showed he was ready to stick around.
And his emotions became more controlled, and a little more rare in terms of being released on-court.
A superb backhand down-the-line winner to take the fourth-set tie-break justified a release, and it came.
A break and another break – the latter to clinch victory – warranted celebration.
Asked about his competitiveness afterwards, Kyrgios said: "It's something I've had. 
"I'm pretty emotional. You know, I'm just learning every day how to contain that. 
"Obviously in the first set I had an outburst, but I bounced back well. Straight back. I thought I stayed composed for the rest of the match."
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic – the emotions of modern-day greats are mostly quiet and almost exclusively positive.
Kyrgios' first-set antics would be best left in the locker room, but would the fire seeing so often stay there as well?
He feeds off the crowd – and interacts with them – while his constant muttering works both ways.
Asked about talking to himself on-court, Kyrgios said sometimes it worked – and sometimes it didn't.
"It's debatable, I think. I am going to have those," he said. 
"Being an emotional player, I'm going to have those negative and positive patches in my matches. 
"Talking to myself is sometimes not so productive. Sometimes it gets me up and I can start producing some pretty good tennis."
Kyrgios is 19, growing up in the public eye and also carrying the weight of a nation.
His emotions could do with a toning down but nothing more, or risk losing the passion and fire that make him the player he is.
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