John Newcombe says that fellow Australian Nick Kyrgios must get along better with his fellow players. In August, Kyrgios was widely criticized for an incident in Montreal where he insulted Stan Wawrinka during their match, which may result in a suspension for the 20-year-old.
Newcombe recalls getting into battles with Ilie Nastase in the early 1970s. He says that at one time, all of the players stopped talking to the Romanian when he was behaving poorly.
"I think back to Nastase when he was having a great year in 1972-1973 and he was behaving so badly that we all ostracized him in the dressing room for a year. No one would talk to him, and so he had to change his ways," Newcombe told *Fairfax Media*. "There were quite a few Australians at the top in that time, and Americans. Ilie loved to have a joke, and he'd come up and talk to you and you'd tell him to f-off. No one would pay him any attention until he changed his ways."
Kyrgios has since apologized for his actions, but he hasn’t played very well since the incident, losing his last three matches. The world No. 42 was not invited to play Australia's Davis Cup semifinal tie last week against Great Britain.
Newcombe says that he does not know Kyrgios personally, but the seven-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 thinks the young Aussie has to grow up.
"If he continues playing and has that sort of attitude on the court, it's not going to be very pleasant for him," Newcombe says. "The respect of your peers is pretty important, and when you have players like [Roger] Federer, [Rafael] Nadal and [Novak] Djokovic saying that they've gone to a lot of trouble to create a reputation for the sport and they don't appreciate what's going on, you've got to sit up and take notice, haven't you?"