Analysis: Time for Nick Kyrgios to reassess his career

Australian tennis phenom Nick Kyrgios continues to polarize tennis fans the world over, but his latest stunt - in which he tanked a match at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday night - should be the catalyst for Tennis Australia to seriously discuss his immediate future in the game.

While he may yell, swear and lash out at umpires far too often, the most worrying thing for tennis authorities is Kyrgios' inexplicably erratic behavior: how he can go from winning the biggest tournament of his life one weekend then embarrassingly tanking a match the next.

Tennis Australia (TA) has long been hesitant to rein in their budding superstar, who is now ranked No.14 in the world, but now - as the Grand Slam season has ended - is the best time for TA to check in on Kyrgios and make sure the 21-year-old is doing okay.

Following what was easily Kyrgios' best tournament win in the Japan Open last week, Australia's Davis Cup captain and former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt said his young compatriot was on a quick path to stardom, and closing the gap on the best four or five players in the world.

"At the moment he's showing that he's good enough to make the quarter-finals at the grand slams, but he's got to take that next step now and really push to towards the semis and then the finals," Hewitt said on Monday.

"He's certainly in that next group, there's probably the big four or five (players) at the moment who keep putting their hands up and winning those titles.

"(He's) going to have to bounce back after five-set matches physically and mentally, and that's something that he's getting better at."

With his latest antics, Kyrgios has made Hewitt look foolish.

His overnight tantrum in his second-round match in Shanghai was indicative of a young man who can't quite bounce back from those mental challenges of which Hewitt speaks.

With Kyrgios' progress at the moment seems to involve "two steps forward, one step back" - glimpses of brilliance interspersed with flashes of stupidity. He continues to act like a young man who looks as though he resents his career choice.

He prioritized 'Pokemon Go' over his career one week, and then said he would retire and take up basketball another. One day, he'll be taking snaps in flashy cars, but the next day he's posing on the tennis court and full of focus. The man, if anything simply seems unsure if he wants to be there.

Even after this latest controversy, Kyrgios was unsure of how to handle it publicly. Within a space of hours, the 21-year-old was seeking forgiveness on social media, apologizing to those in attendance who a short time earlier he had dismissed as unimportant.

"I don't owe them anything. It's my choice. If you don't like it, leave," Kyrgios told reporters after the loss on Wednesday.

"The (spectators) don't know what I'm going through."

Kyrgios later posted to social media: "Not good enough today on many levels, I'm better than that. I can go on about excuses but there are none. Sorry."

Perhaps as no one "knows what he is going through", it's time for Tennis Australia to step in, sit down with the mercurial player and discuss openly what it might be that's bothering him.

For all his flaws, Kyrgios is still considered to be a special young talent. If he feels he is not yet up to the rigors of professional tennis, now is the perfect time for the Australian to take a break from the sport and work through any issues he feels he may have. Endit