While the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Serena Williams are widely known, someone also well-known throughout the sports world is Nick Kyrgios. Now, there are two things that people have always been able to agree on about the Australian world number 40: that, based on talent, he is perhaps one of the most gifted people to ever pick up a tennis racket, and that he is the second-coming of John McEnroe. You could set your watch to a Kyrgios meltdown, and it is to the point now where it is shocking when he does not blow up mid-match. 

2020, however, has been different. This year has seen a more motivated Kyrgios, starting with his help raising money for the devastating wildfires that covered Australia. He played for something bigger than himself, and many wondered if this would finally be the change many, like myself, have been waiting to see.

Yet, that change would have to wait, as COVID-19 came.

It began slowly, with very scarce tournaments with very few players playing in isolated tournaments. Then the Adria Tour happened. Novak Djokovic and several other Baltic players played in front of packed stadiums, including 30,000 plus people in Belgrade. This is where Nick Kyrgios the moral arbiter was born. He blasted pretty much everyone involved, for their selfishness and lack of adherence to any kind of health protocols.

He is not playing in the U.S. Open and while he supports players who are doing so, as long as they follow safety guidelines, he still chose not to play, citing his belief that tennis returned too early. Kyrgios should be commended for this stance. He is providing a rationale and level-headed nature that many in his sport have refused to show.

And yes, you could say that he should not have resorted to name-calling, but I would just ask this: would a nuanced conversation with someone ignorant, (willfully or otherwise) to a once-in-a-generation global pandemic honestly yield a better result?

If people are seriously going to flout global health recommendations and be that numb to the consequences, then they deserve the verbal egg on their face that Kyrgios has dealt them.

So, where does that leave us? A player known as his sport's wild child is now the single most salient voice on the most complex issue the sport has ever faced.

Welcome to 2020.