FORGET the recent goings-on in Australian tennis: the claims of no respect; the wild parties; the tanking; the arrest; the refusal to play; the expulsion from the national team.

That was all fixable.

Some behind-closed-doors meetings, some give-and-take, some don’t-do-it-agains, would have been enough to somewhat resolve these recent problems.

Friday was one of the dark days of Australian tennis.

As a tennis coach of a schoolboys’ team, I ventured to the top-end with my players to watch what I love: team tennis. For me, it was an opportunity to show my boys all that is Davis Cup: playing for your country; playing in a team; playing for your mates.

Davis Cup, for me, is built on my memories of Rochey and JA, of Cashy and Wally. And in recent times it was the patriotism imposed by Rafter and Lleyton, not to dismiss the contribution of the Woodies and Frommy and the like.

It was all about our national heroes putting Davis Cup above all else. And this weekend my boys were going to see all this in the new breed of Aussie tennis player — Bernie, Grothy, the Special Ks. OK, so Bernie couldn’t be part of it, but that was alright, he would be back.

In our school program we talk about those attributes that make the player, that make the man. We talk about reputation: the sum of all things we are, we do, we represent. We talk about resilience: the fundamental ingredient of the competitor. And we talk about respect. Respect is the characteristic of a good person, a good man. It is the thing that will make your parents proud, your coach proud. It will fulfil you. It will make every on-court achievement so much more enjoyable.

At the end of day one of our tie against Kazakhstan, I was unable to discuss any of these core messages with my boys. Well, not from an Australian point of view anyway. I was actually questioning the big build-up I gave to the boys, about what they were going to experience.

At the end of play, on our long walk to the taxi stand, one of my boys asked me whether players think tournaments are more important than Davis Cup. I found myself saying that I thought, until today, that representing your country was the most important thing for all Australian players. I then thought of the outstanding post-match interview with Aleksandr Nedovyesov, who reiterated the camaraderie of the Kazakhstan team.

We don’t have that anymore.

I wonder if Nick knows how much harder he has made my job, after this. How do I sell our school tennis mantra to my young players now? After all, here is a player who shows no resilience and no respect, and is rich and famous, courtesy of the sport that my boys love.

What message does that send?

Even if we ignore resilience, because that simply relates to on-court competitiveness, Nick Kyrgios’s total, complete and utter lack of respect for everything and everyone, is the thing that cuts deepest.

On Friday, Nick managed to disrespect us all. He disrespected all those former Davis Cup and Fed Cup players sitting in the crowd and sitting at home in front of the television.

What were Muscles and Newk thinking about it all?

He disrespected all players, junior and senior, who would happily give up a kidney to have the skills to represent Australia. He disrespected all aspiring athletes across all sports — those swimmers desperately trying to get their times down to make the next Olympics or world championships, those thousands of footballers across all codes who are struggling to be recognised for the next World Cup. He disrespected his sponsors, his equipment, the ITF and Tennis Australia — let’s not forget the free-ride Nick has been on since his junior years, thanks to our national body.

He disrespected Pat and Wally and Lleyton who must have been looking on in disbelief, unable to comprehend someone who values so little what they value so much. He disrespected all those fans who paid hundreds of dollars to buy tickets to see his performance today. He disrespected my mother and all of the other elderly or disabled or infirmed people, who I saw out there on Friday, battling the heat and grandstands to see Australia play. And when he trash-talked Darwin as an “inconvenient” venue mid-match, he also disrespected his home town in the ACT — the other small, humble, modest country town in our vast country, which provided him with a perfect environment to learn the game of tennis. And whereby his mother has been his strongest advocate in recent times, he disrespected her and the rest of his family while they continue to be apologists for his behaviour.

He treated the ball kids like servants and the officials with disdain. He disrespected those 12-year-old boys who were training in Darwin as part of the Tennis Australia Davis Cup Camp. They desperately want to see him shine. Shooting hoops with them for a half an hour does not make up for the rest, Nick. And he disrespected the likes of John Millman, James Duckworth, Jordan Thompson, John-Patrick Smith and Benjamin Mitchell who long for their opportunity.

And yes, Nick, you even disrespected your mate Thanasi Kokkinakis, who had a shocker out there on Friday, but competed and gave his best, only to watch you fail to save his day.

Do you realise this? Do you even care?

But there can be a positive to come out of this disgrace. Cut him loose, Pat.

This is not a Nick thing. This is about any player who revels in self-indulgence and does not live and breathe the Tennis Australia motto of excellence, humility, loyalty and teamwork.

Let’s face it: Nick could stop playing tennis tomorrow and would have more money than he would ever need. Pat, you would not be stopping him from playing tennis, earning a livelihood, you would just be drawing a line under his representative career — that he doesn’t even want anyway.

We need to remember tennis players are just entertainers — no different to singers, actors, jugglers, magicians.

They happen to be able to do some good tricks with a racquet and a felt ball, on a small patch of turf. Tennis players will not cure cancer or eliminate world poverty. Life will go on for Nick. He can employ his own coach, travel the world and, with his amount of talent, have years of success collecting regular prize money cheques, playing the sport he is ambivalent about.

This would be a line-in-the-sand moment for all players teetering on the edge.

Pat, you would not be punishing one man. The outcome would be that you would create a culture and an environment that would respect all of us. It would also deliver success in spades.

It may mean Australia’s short-term success will suffer, but in the long run you will leave a great mark on Australian tennis.

Tennis Australia will become an organisation that promotes a culture of earning the right, not one of entitlement. You will restore our reputation, but more importantly you will show respect to the entire, loyal, tennis community who at the moment, have a hollow pit in their stomachs.

Just do it.

Greg Royle is a professional tennis coach. This post was republished from Facebook with his permission.