Is Kyrgios the most famous nobody? (Career wise)

[Terenigma]

I was randomly thinking this earlier that there is probably a lot of people in the world who know who he is (Thanks to his attitude on the court ect) but career wise he's still pretty much a nobody with no big titles and no significant runs in slams. When i think about the average person who has a casual interest in sport, most would of heard of the Big 4 and would know the big names of the past too such as Sampras and McEnroe but i'm betting they would of heard of Kyrgios too simply due to all the ridiculous news stories about him with the Wawrinka GF saga and his underarm serves ect ect

I also did a bit of research and discovered that he's the 21st most followed tennis player on social media currently and 10th most followed ATP player. Dimitrov and Nishikori are higher than him but a WTF win and Grand slam final are easily bigger achievements that would of gone them attention. So what do you guys think? Can you think of any other player with such popularity that has/had achieved very little?

 

[Red Rick]

Obviously.

 

[73west]

I was randomly thinking this earlier that there is probably a lot of people in the world who know who he is (Thanks to his attitude on the court ect) but career wise he's still pretty much a nobody with no big titles and no significant runs in slams. When i think about the average person who has a casual interest in sport, most would of heard of the Big 4 and would know the big names of the past too such as Sampras and McEnroe but i'm betting they would of heard of Kyrgios too simply due to all the ridiculous news stories about him with the Wawrinka GF saga and his underarm serves ect ect

I also did a bit of research and discovered that he's the 21st most followed tennis player on social media currently and 10th most followed ATP player. Dimitrov and Nishikori are higher than him but a WTF win and Grand slam final are easily bigger achievements that would of gone them attention. So what do you guys think? Can you think of any other player with such popularity that has/had achieved very little?

I think his repeatedly beating Nadal and Djokovic has more to do with it than his underhand serves
(his antics are a big part, sure, but the underhand serve? No way. Knocking Nadal out at a major is more memorable to the casual observer)

 

[Terenigma]

I think his repeatedly beating Nadal and Djokovic has more to do with it than his underhand serves
(his antics are a big part, sure, but the underhand serve? No way. Knocking Nadal out at a major is more memorable to the casual observer)

See thing about that is, Zverev did the same and he actually won titles to do it. He beat Djokovic at the WTF and has beaten Federer to win a masters title. Those are huge achievements yet i doubt many know his name. Controversy always gets more attention in my view but there is still something about Nick that seems to get him in the media.

 

[73west]

See thing about that is, Zverev did the same and he actually won titles to do it. He beat Djokovic at the WTF and has beaten Federer to win a masters title. Those are huge achievements yet i doubt many know his name. Controversy always gets more attention in my view but there is still something about Nick that seems to get him in the media.

You are begging the question.

You have based your point on the *assumption* that
a) tennis fans know Kyrgios more than Zverev
b) it's because of his antics

that may be true, but it's just an unsupported assumption. Shouldn't we at least first be asking if Kyrgios really *is* more famous than Zverev?

 

[r2473]

You are begging the question.

You have based your point on the *assumption* that
a) tennis fans know Kyrgios more than Zverev
b) it's because of his antics

that may be true, but it's just an unsupported assumption. Shouldn't we at least first be asking if Kyrgios really *is* more famous than Zverev?

Non tennis fans (in America) have never heard of either of them

 

[Phoenix1983]

Non tennis fans (in America) have never heard of either of them

True, although non-tennis fans have heard of no current male players outside the big 4 - and even they are not known by everyone.

 

[Deleted member 688153]

He shows that results can be secondary in terms of entertainment. I and many folks would rather watch this guy than many past slam winners.

 

[Mark Asher]

I and many folks would rather watch this guy than many past slam winners.

Unless he's dogging it for whatever reason. That's no fun. And that's the problem. Which Nick are you going to get?

 

[Mainad]

I guess he must be considering at least 1 thread about him appears on here almost every day (only Federer gets more).

 

[TearTheRoofOff]

I love how many people this dude pisses off in his various ways. A ton of flair but an absolutely legendary tank-artist.

 

[r2473]

Newsflash, people like personality, flash, style, a little "bad ass". The Milquetoast personalities, with everyone being nice and polite has made this a sport only watched by tennis players, fans. Back in the day when Andre hated Pete, and Johnny Mac hated everyone not named Borg..you had casual sports fans tuning into tennis as must see TV, not so much anymore..these guys are bores! It's like when people wonder why the hot female players are more popular to watch??? I sometimes feel like people have been living under a rock!!!

I was a big Sampras fan. Hated Agassi.

Not everyone likes the same personality. But most Sampras fans are as quiet as he is, so you don’t know about it

 

[Deon Sanders]

I love how many people this dude pisses off in his various ways. A ton of flair but an absolutely legendary tank-artist.

Dont worry

He won everyone back thanks to his PR team setting up him pushing a womans car for a couple feet in one of the most heroic acts this world has ever seen

 

[Lleytonstation]

I would say most people do not know who NK is. In fact I would say most sports people don't know who he is. Tennis is not even on the radar for many people, and NK is not reaching slam finals to be seen or talked about in the sports media. Your average sports fan that does not watch tennis except maybe slam finals may be able to name like 5 or 6 current players, and I bet Kyrgios is not one.

Plenty of athletes are snobs and do odd and unexpected things that cause controversies. Until NK starts winning, he will continue to be unknown outside the sport. Most sports networks only show finals of tennis in short highlights, and that is not going to help grow NK brand.

Now if he starts winning and stays controversial, they you have a household name.

On a side note, I do think NK will end up being more successful than Dimitrov when it is all said and done.

 

[TearTheRoofOff]

Dont worry

He won everyone back thanks to his PR team setting up him pushing a womans car for a couple feet in one of the most heroic acts this world has ever seen

LoL. Never change, Kermit.

 

[OldschoolKIaus]

No, it's Simon.

 

[Mr. Bingington]

I was a big Sampras fan. Hated Agassi.

Not everyone likes the same personality. But most Sampras fans are as quiet as he is, so you don’t know about it

I'm sure you did love Sampres..which is great. Conservatively I bet Andre' had 3 to 4 times the fans. BTW, thanks for quoting my post, because I was just informed it got deleted for "offensive language" and I honestly forgot what I wrote....I guess "bad ass" is not acceptable? LOL Had to be a Sampres fan who reported that!

 

[ChaelAZ]

Similar to Kardashians.

 

[King No1e]

Mansour Bahrami has been popular for longer, and for good reasons rather than bad.

 

[DSH]

He shows that results can be secondary in terms of entertainment. I and many folks would rather watch this guy than many past slam winners.

are you serious?
this thug never to receive the respect of past grand slam winners.
For clowns, there are already enough like Monfils, Fognini and a few others.

 

[Federer and Del Potro]

Tim will be unless he wins slams.

Dimitrov if Tim does his job.

 

[Poisoned Slice]

Tim will be unless he wins slams.

Dimitrov if Tim does his job.

Spoiler

 

[Federer and Del Potro]

Spoiler

LOL excellent reference. "STOP IT" "I CANT"

That will be Thiem when he can't stop winning slems.

 

[DSH]

 

[Autodidactic player]

... Can you think of any other player with such popularity that has/had achieved very little?

The attention is trailing off but for the last several years Eugenie Bouchard got far more attention than her tennis deserved.

 

[Phoenix1983]

The attention is trailing off but for the last several years Eugenie Bouchard got far more attention than her tennis deserved.

Yes, fair point.

In which case, Kournikova should be the runaway winner of this competition. She's far more famous than Kyrgios.

 

[Mr. Bingington]

Mansour Bahrami has been popular for longer, and for good reasons rather than bad.

That guy has freak skills, and knows how to entertain!

 

[gusgrand]

I think Anna Kournikova has Kyrios beat!

 

[Mr. Bingington]

Tennis is filled with players getting attention without much accomplishments. Why? Simple..THERE ARE ONLY SO MANY MAJORS BUT TONS OF PLAYERS. What do you want to do..just sit around and talk Rafa, Rog, Joker all the time? a true fan looks for variety and stories, and he's simply interesting to folks. If it was only about wins and titles then 85% of each tour, men and woman should be ignored!

 

[Cashman]

I think his repeatedly beating Nadal and Djokovic has more to do with it than his underhand serves
(his antics are a big part, sure, but the underhand serve? No way. Knocking Nadal out at a major is more memorable to the casual observer)

Yep. In fact I think if you look at GS/M1000 only, he has a 4-3 record against Djokodalerer. And we all know that he threw away a couple of those matches.

The guy may be an underachiever and an attention *****, but any time he actually turns up to play he is a consistent threat to any of the top 3. There is nobody else on tour you can say that about, which is why he is so exciting.

 

[Russeljones]

would of

Care to "randomly" stop using this diabolical construction?

Thank you!