Alex de Minaur was in Nick Kyrgios’s house, making himself at home, wooing the crowd as his own. One quiet Australian replacing a very loud one, and finally having his time in the sun. It was more than 24 hours since Kyrgios withdrew from the Australian Open, but he is somehow here, commanding the airwaves and column inches. Tuesday’s headlines were about the so-called feud between Kyrgios and De Minaur. Or, more accurately, Kyrgios’s denial that there is a feud, that they are “close mates on tour and he always will be”.
But though his ghost lingers, Kyrgios was not at John Cain Arena, the court he so loves and that loves him back in all its riotous glory. His withdrawal meant De Minaur’s first-round match was moved here and it is De Minaur the locals came to see. What they witnessed was a professional, assertive straight-sets defeat of the Taiwan qualifier Hsu Yu Hsiou.
