Nole's antics are not that bad and need to be put in context. Nole, unlike Kyrgios and Tomic, is #1 in the world and an extremely dedicated and professional athlete. 99% of the time, Nole behaves in a very professional manner and he also plays a lot more matches than these young hot heads and in pressure situations much more often. It is not a problem to me that on very rare occasions, Novak let's his temper fly and his so called transgressions are pretty small anyway. So lately, he had that incident where he startled the ball boy for a split second without touching him or harming him...wow.. how bad! Then there was an incident where he let the racquet go and unintentionally almost hit the a line umpire; he obviously didn't mean to throw it at him. For a guy that 99% of the time conducts himself as a role model to those who aspire to be the best player, these rare acts are pretty small and arguing that there is a double standard is IMO, ridiculous.
You see, Kyrgios and Tomic aren't nearly as professional as Nole, day in day out. They are not even proven athletes and their behavior in and outside the court is very different than Nole. Nole doesn't say controversial and disrespectful things outside the tennis court as these two do and inside the court, he is entitled to have rare outbursts that really aren't harmful to anyone. Kyrgios and Tomic act immaturely, say stupid things outside the court and inside the court, their antics (although may seem similar to Djokovic) come from unproven guys who are immature. Also, they display antics at a much higher ratio when compared to matches played or accomplishments (vs Nole). To me, this is apples and oranges and it's stupid to compare. We can't compare two immature, unaccomplished hot heads (who show a lack of respect in and outside the court) to the world # 1 who is much more professional, mature (on and off the court) and is indeed a role model to aspiring players.
This is, overall, a very fair statement. (OK, Novak has nipped into controversy, with the equal pay issue, but most of the top 4 have courted controversy at some point. They get asked questions and they respond.) The original question is whether Novak gets a pass that Kyrgios doesn't, based on Kyrgios statements that he's treated more harshly than the big 4. I think you address that. It doesn't matter that he (and Tomic, as he's been brought in) are less accomplished. It's that they have behaved more brattish and rude. Nothing about rank, or who has the right to be a brat. However, then you get into niggles about bad behavior amongst the top 4. People have used this thread to point out Novak's behavior, because it was a "contrast" question. Fair enough, but it really isn't so bad, as most have said. But I don't agree with you trying to make bad boys out of Rafa and Murray towards ball kids, just by contrast. It becomes niggling and subjective. Amongst the top 4, they do tend to behave well on-court. Each has places where he has been more transgressive. By age: Federer: he's not above arguing with the umpire, swearing, and throwing a racquet. Nadal: he should get the kudos for on-court comportment, as he's never thrown a racquet, doesn't swear, and usually doesn't blink when he gets a time violation. However, he does abuse the time. He's slow. And I don't think he abuses the ball kids. Novak: he is the most gracious in defeat. (If you can remember back to when he actually lost.) He's emotional on court, as Billie says, and he's been sanctioned at moments for it. He can throw a racquet and swear (and no, it's not ok just because it's not in English,) he's startled a few ball kids and made one girl cry, but it is head-of-the-moment and not ill-intended. Andy: Yes, he's grumpy and swears a lot, but it is a detriment to be an English-speaker, as all of the umpires know your swear words. I've heard Fognini drop any number of rude expressions in Italian, but the umpires don't understand. And Billie has said that Novak swears in Serbian.
Point being: The Big 4 are actually generally well-behaved. No need to nit-pick the differences between them. And if Nick Kyrgios feels that he's being hard done-by, compared to those top guys, he's just wrong. They've never done anything as crass or unsportsmanlike as he has, so it's really hard to determine how much they would have been sanctioned. But Nick's takeaway from this should be: stop being a dick, stop distracting yourself, and play the tennis you can.
