Pat Cash and Paul McNamee have their say on Nick Kyrgios’ performance at the Australian Open

Australian tennis great Pat Cash says he has sympathy for Nick Kyrgios but has shied away from ever working with the troubled tennis star.

Kyrgios bowed out in his second round match at the Australian Open on Wednesday.

Cash told Tony Jones Kyrgios is in need of a mentor and it takes a lot of ‘mental capacity’ to get to the top.

He said there are ‘ups and downs’ in any match and said if Kyrgios still wants to play tennis, he needs to focus his concentration.

‘I have a bit of sympathy for Nick, I’ve got to say,’ he said.

‘He’s got a lot of pressure, and expectation I suppose. But I’m like everybody else, I shake my head at times.’

And he said he wouldn’t be interested in taking up the job as coach, despite discussions a few years back.

‘Why would I want to get involved in a job like that?’

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Another tennis great, Paul McNamee, said Kyrgios needs support and is on an ’emotional rollercoaster’.

‘If you tuned in you realised there was drama unfolding and it was riveting,’ he told 3AW Breakfast.

‘I would say (to him) – just admit you’re not coping.

‘He’s an emotional rollercoaster that’s way too up and down, he’s not in control of them.’

Kyrgios was up in the first two sets when he self-destructed going on to lose the last three sets to Italian Andreas Seppi, picking up a code violation for swearing and racket abuse along the way.

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