My favourite Nick Kyrgios shot? It’s not the tweener. It’s not that mosquito bite of a drop shot, lethally subtle and administered before you had the faintest idea what was happening. It’s not the underarm serve, or the overarm serve. It’s not even the lush crosscourt forehand, delivered with a delicious whip of the wrists and enough spin to start a malicious rumour. But they’re all valid choices. None of them is a wrong answer.

Personally, though, my favourite Kyrgios stroke is when the ball sits up off the court just a little on the forehand side, and as he rotates his shoulders and winds back his racquet to its full extension, you realise the next shot is going to be hit so abominably hard you’re going to struggle to track the flight of the ball afterwards. It could crash into the net halfway up. It could fly into the fourth row of seats. Or it could disappear with the velocity of a photon and reappear four nanoseconds later on the right sideline for an emphatic, disdainful winner. Five years after his breakthrough year, the instant before Kyrgios winds up his all-or-nothing forehand is still, I would posit, the most thrilling moment in tennis.

Kyrgios’s four-set defeat to Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon on Thursday was full of such moments: moments where, for everything you think you’ve learned about tennis or sport or even Kyrgios himself, you still couldn’t quite predict how things would play out. Perhaps he would smoke a 143mph second serve. Perhaps he would smash the ball straight at his opponent. Perhaps he would goad the chair umpire as a man on a power trip. (Naturally, he ended up doing all three.) In a business increasingly trending towards the known, the bite-size, the commodifiable, Kyrgios in a way exemplifies its antithesis: the pure caprice and infinite complexity of the live high-wire performer.

You can criticise Kyrgios – many enthusiastically do, and often with justification – but he defies every attempt to categorise or caricature him. This is the selfish brat who, according to an Australian charity, spent years secretly inviting children with cancer to have a hit with him on the practice court. The surly prima donna who cracks really quite good jokes in press conferences. The wasted talent who has accumulated £5.8 million in career prize money and just served up one of the most entertaining Grand Slam matches of the year.

Even a simple kind of hero worship is tough to maintain, given his frequent rudeness on and off the court, and the occasional comment that crosses the line from illicit entertainment to pure dickishness (“Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend” a few years ago was a low, albeit one he apologised for). You can’t purely like Nick Kyrgios. You can’t purely dislike Nick Kyrgios (although plenty of people try, and they’re wrong). He’s nobody’s idea of a role model, and a very poor sort of pariah. So what’s to be done with him?

Wimbledon champions since 2000 Show all 38 1 /38 Wimbledon champions since 2000 Wimbledon champions since 2000 Pete Sampras, 2000 WIMBLEDON, UNITED KINGDOM: US Pete Sampras kisses the Gentlemen's Singles trophy after winning his final match against Australian Patrick Rafter in Wimbledon 09 July 2000. Sampras won in 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2. (ELECTRONIC IMAGE) PHOTO GERRY PENNY (Photo credit should read GERRY PENNY/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Venus Williams, 2000 8 Jul 2000: Venus Williams of the USA with the Wimbledon trophy after beating Lindsay Davenport of the USA during the final of the womens singles in the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon, London. Mandatory Credit: Clive Brunskill/ALLSPORT Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Goran Ivanisevic, 2001 9 Jul 2001: Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia celebrates winning match point during the men's final of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, in Wimbledon, London. \ Mandatory Credit: Gary M Prior/Allsport Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Venus Williams, 2001 LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JULY 08: WIMBLEDON 2001, Finale, London; Siegerin Venus WILLIAMS/USA (Photo by Bongarts/Getty Images) Bongarts/Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Lleyton Hewitt, 2002 WIMBLEDON - 7 JULY: Lleyton Hewitt of Australia lifts the trophy after victory over David Nalbandian of Argentina in the Men's Singles Final of the Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Club in Wimbledon, England. Hewitt won 6-1. 6-3, 6-2. (photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Serena Williams, 2002 WIMBLEDON, UNITED KINGDOM: US Serena Williams holds the trophy after winning the Women's final against her sister Venus at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, 06 July 2002. Serena won 7-6 and 6-3. It is the first time in 118 years that sisters have met in the final at Wimbledon. AFP PHOTO GERRY PENNY (Photo credit should read GERRY PENNY/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Roger Federer, 2003 LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JULY 06: Wimbledon 2003, London; Maenner/Einzel/Finale; Sieger Roger FEDERER/SUI (Photo by Bongarts/Getty Images) Bongarts/Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Serena Williams, 2003 LONDON - JULY 5: (FILE PHOTO) This file photo shows Serena Williams (L) of the USA holding the trophy after her match against sister Venus Williams of the USA in the Womens Singles Final during day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships held on July 5, 2003 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, in Wimbledon, London. Yetunde Price, older sister and personal assistant to Venus and Serena Williams was fatally shot September 14, 2003 outside Compton, California. Police have surrounded the suspects but have not yet made any arrests. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Roger Federer, 2004 LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JULY 04: Tennis / Maenner: Wimbledon 2004, London; Finale; Schlussjubel Sieger Roger FEDERER / SUI 04.07.04. (Photo by Bongarts/Bongarts/Getty Images) Bongarts/Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Maria Sharapova, 2004 LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JULY 03: Tennis / Frauen: Wimbledon 2004, London; Finale; Siegerin Maria SHARAPOVA / RUS 03.07.04. (Photo by Bongarts/Bongarts/Getty Images) Bongarts/Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Roger Federer, 2005 LONDON - JULY 03: Roger Federer (L) of Switzerland shares a joke with Chris Gorringe after winning in straight sets against Andy Roddick of the USA in the Mens Singles final during the thirteenth day of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship on July 3, 2005 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Venus Williams, 2005 LONDON, United Kingdom: Venus Williams of the US celebrates defeating Lindsay Davenport of the US after their women's final match at the 119th Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, 02 July, 2005. Williams won 4-6, 7-6, 9-7. AFP PHOTO/ADRIAN DENNIS (Photo credit should read ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Roger Federer, 2006 LONDON, United Kingdom: Switzerland's Roger Federer celebrates his fourth consecutive Wimbledon Championships title at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, in south London, 09 July 2006. Federer beat Spain's Rafael Nadal. AFP PHOTO/CARL DE SOUZA (Photo credit should read CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Amelie Mauresmo, 2006 LONDON - JULY 08: Amelie Mauresmo of France holds the trophy after winning the match over Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium during the women's final match on day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 8, 2006 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Roger Federer, 2007 London, UNITED KINGDOM: Swiss Roger Federer kisses the trophy after defeating Spanish Rafael Nadal in men's final at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, in south London, 08 July 2007. Roger Federer won the Wimbledon men's singles title for the fifth successive year with a 7-6 (9/7), 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 6-2 victory over Rafael Nadal. AFP PHOTO / JOE KLAMAR (Photo credit should read JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Venus Williams, 2007 LONDON - JULY 07: Venus Williams of USA poses with the trophy following her victory during the Women's Singles final match against Marion Bartoli of France during day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 7, 2007 in London, England. Williams won 6-4, 6-1. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) Getty Wimbledon champions since 2000 Rafael Nadal, 2008 Spain's Rafael Nadal bites his trophy after defeating Switzerland's Roger Federer during their final tennis match of the 2008 Wimbledon championships against at The All England Tennis Club in southwest London, on July 6, 2008. Nadal won 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7. AFP PHOTO / ADRIAN DENNIS (Photo credit should read ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Venus Williams, 2008 LONDON - JULY 05: Venus Williams of United States celebrates winning the Championship trophy during the women's singles Final match against Serena Williams of United States on day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 5, 2008 in London, England. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Roger Federer, 2009 WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND - JULY 05: Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates victory with the trophy after the men's singles final match against Andy Roddick of USA on Day Thirteen of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 5, 2009 in London, England. Federer won 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 16-14. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Serena Williams, 2009 WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND - JULY 04: Serena Williams of USA celebrates with the Championship trophy after the women's singles final match against Venus Williams of USA on Day Twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 4, 2009 in London, England. Serena Williams of USA won 7-6, 6-2. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Rafael Nadal, 2010 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 04: Rafael Nadal of Spain holds the Championship trophy after winning the Men's Singles Final match against Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic on Day Thirteen of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 4, 2010 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Serena Williams, 2010 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 03: Serena Williams of USA holds the Championship trophy after winning her Ladies Singles Final Match against Vera Zvonareva of Russia on Day Twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 3, 2010 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Novak Djokovic, 2011 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 03: Novak Djokovic of Serbia kisses the championship trophy after winning his final round Gentlemen's match against Rafael Nadal of Spain on Day Thirteen of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 3, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Petra Kvitova, 2011 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 02: Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic holds up the Championship trophy after winning her Ladies' final round match against Maria Sharapova of Russia on Day Twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 2, 2011 in London, England. Kvitova won 6-3 6-4. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Roger Federer, 2012 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 08: Roger Federer of Switzerland kisses the winner's trophy after winning his Gentlemen's Singles final match against Andy Murray of Great Britain on day thirteen of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 8, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Serena Williams, 2012 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 07: Serena Williams of the USA lifts the winners trophy and celebrates after her Ladiesâ Singles final match against Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland on day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 7, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Andy Murray, 2013 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 07: Andy Murray of Great Britain poses with the Gentlemen's Singles Trophy following his victory in the Gentlemen's Singles Final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia on day thirteen of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 7, 2013 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Marion Bartoli, 2013 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 06: Marion Bartoli of France poses with the Venus Rosewater Dish trophy after her victory in the Ladies' Singles final match against Sabine Lisicki of Germany on day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 6, 2013 in London, England. (Photo by Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Novak Djokovic, 2014 Serbia's Novak Djokovic holds the winner's trophy after beating Switzerland's Roger Federer in the men's singles final match during the presentation on day thirteen of the 2014 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 6, 2014. Djokovic won his second Wimbledon title and seventh career major with a 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 5-7, 6-4 victory over Roger Federer Sunday, shattering the Swiss star's dream of a record eighth triumph in a titanic struggle. AFP PHOTO / CARL COURT - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / AFP PHOTO / CARL COURT (Photo credit should read CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Petra Kvitova, 2014 Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova celebrates after winning the women's singles final match against Canada's Eugenie Bouchard on day twelve of the 2014 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 5, 2014. Kvitova stormed to her second Wimbledon title in the shortest women's final at the All England Club since 1983 as the Czech sixth seed crushed Canada's Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-0. AFP PHOTO / GLYN KIRK - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo credit should read GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Novak Djokovic, 2015 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 12: Novak Djokovic of Serbia eats the centre court grass after winning the Final Of The Gentlemen's Singles against Roger Federer of Switzerland on day thirteen of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 12, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Serena Williams, 2015 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 11: Serena Williams of the United States celebrates with the Venus Rosewater Dish after her victory in the Final Of The Ladies' Singles against Garbine Muguruza of Spain during day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 11, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Andy Murray, 2016 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 10: Andy Murray of Great Britain celebrates victory during the Men's Singles Final against Milos Raonic of Canada on day thirteen of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 10, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Serena Williams, 2016 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 09: Serena Williams of The United States celebrates victory following The Ladies Singles Final against Angelique Kerber of Germany on day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 9, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Roger Federer, 2017 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 16: Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates victory with the trophy after the Gentlemen's Singles final against Marin Cilic of Croatia on day thirteen of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club at Wimbledon on July 16, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Garbine Muguruza, 2017 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 15: Garbine Muguruza of Spain celebrates victory with the trophy after the Ladies Singles final against Venus Williams of The United States on day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club at Wimbledon on July 15, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Novak Djokovic, 2018 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 15: Novak Djokovic of Serbia kisses the trophy after winning the Men's Singles final against Kevin Anderson of South Africa on day thirteen of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 15, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images) Getty Images Wimbledon champions since 2000 Angelique Kerber, 2018 LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 14: Angelique Kerber of Germany kisses the Venus Rosewater Dish as she poses for photographs after defeating Serena Williams of The United States in the Ladies' Singles final on day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 14, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images) Getty Images

Perhaps nothing. Perhaps one of the reasons Kyrgios provides such irresistible grist for vague, chin-strokey columns like this one is that no real emotional excavation is required here. In a sport where most of its practitioners put the shutters up, spout platitudes and dare you to diagnose them, Kyrgios puts everything on the surface: the scars and the scabs, the joy and the resentment and the frustration and the longing. And he doesn’t much care what you’ll make of it, either.

Perhaps the best way of interpreting Kyrgios is as a sort of performance artist: tennis’s answer to Kanye West or Marina Abramovic, a dangerous space where you’re never quite sure where the artist ends and the art starts. Whether they’re doing what they doing on purpose, or simply because it happened to feel good at the time, or whether this is even a meaningful question to be asking. Why did Kyrgios tell reporters that he had a new coach back in October, and then laugh at all the news organisations that reported his comments as fact the next day? In a culture where everything has to mean something – be it a quote, or a tweet, or a look – perhaps the most subversive act is one that means nothing at all.

The tennis itself offers few clues. One of the maddening joys of sport is the instinctive process of extrapolation we apply to young players: this player achieved *x* at age *y*, and so we can safely predict that by age *z*, they could achieve *x2-4ax-b2*, where *a* is their dicky knee and *b* their propensity for a night out. An obsession with the next big thing underpins virtually all sports, and many other fields besides. But it’s hard to argue that Kyrgios is a materially different or even very much improved player from the one who burst so spectacularly onto the scene in 2014. This is all there is. It was all there, on display, from the very start.

In a more enlightened sphere of public debate, we could have a serious, grown-up chat about the sacrifices this sport demands of its young. About its duty of care to the boys and girls it flogs into the ground for 11 months a year, trapped on a brutal, relentless treadmill of overnight flights, nondescript hotel rooms and ranking points. Kyrgios often talks about how he’s “sick of tennis”, and for some reason everyone always seems to conclude that it’s Kyrgios who has the problem. What if it’s tennis?

“Without really loving this game that much, it is difficult to achieve important things,” Nadal warned him after Thursday’s game. Kyrgios had his own response to that. “At the end of the day, it’s tennis, man,” he said. “Is it really that important?” And in those two statements are encapsulated perhaps the fundamental dichotomy of sport. How seriously should we be taking all this? How much of ourselves should we expend on this business of winning and losing and balls and points? What does it mean to truly achieve?