Grand Slam title record holder Margaret Court has urged Australian firebrands Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios to start playing for the nation and stop playing for themselves.
She believes their behaviour is not fitting of the modern day player and has accused them of showing little respect to the game or their nation.
“Most of them are pretty good (behaviour wise) and you know you’ve got people like (Roger) Federer and how much (Andy) Murray’s improved, and (Rafael) Nadal and (Novak) Djokovic, they’ve all got wonderful temperament on the court,” Court said on SEN radio.
“I think we’ve got a couple (in Kyrgios and Tomic) that have come through and perhaps think that they’re better than they really are, and not a lot of respect for other people, and the game and the nation.
“I think they need to play for their nation and stop playing for themselves.”
Court believes the young Australian talent seen at this year’s Open is evidence that tennis in the nation is starting to head in the right direction, particularly the all-court game of Ash Barty.
However, she also says a lack of players playing doubles has meant they fail to learn when to use their aggression and struggle to change the momentum of a match.
“I think it’s the first time we’ve seen a couple of 16 year olds coming through for a long time in the women’s and we’ve got (Ash) Barty there, she’s playing tonight,” she said.
“She does have a pretty well all-round game, because she played doubles, and that’s where a lot of them miss it because they don’t play doubles, they don’t learn to volley, they don’t learn to be aggressive and when something’s not going right you can change the game.”
She feels it is wrong for the media to put a ceiling on what the young talent can achieve, as she believes if they are good enough they should rise through the system.
“I think these young ones, as long as they not, they say oh well they’re too young to win, I think that is wrong because I won my first Australian open when I was 17,” Court said.
“Even with Kyrgios, oh he’s so young, but you had people like Boris Becker winning Wimbledon when they were 17.
“I’ll be honest the press are making excuses for them, I think it’s wrong. I think we should be seeing young ones coming through.”