Nick Kyrgios reached the fourth round at Indian Wells on Tuesday, beating fellow wunderkind Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-4 to set up a meeting with Novak Djokovic. As usual, he did it with the panache that endears him to so many—and disenchants so many others.
The basketball-loving, controversial Aussie is immensely talented and is widely regarded as a player with Grand Slam potential if he can fully commit himself mentally. Sure, Kyrgios is criticized for being unprofessional, but sometimes his supposed dearth of competitiveness reveals a more human side of the man, like when he encouraged Indian Wells second-round opponent Horacio Zeballos to challenge a call that originally went Kyrgios's way—and was proven right by replay.