Sebastien Grosjean on coaching Nick Kyrgios: 'He needs to be mentally tougher'

Former World No. 4 Sebastien Grosjean has one of the toughest jobs in tennis -- to coach temperamental Australian Nick Kyrgios. After Mark Philippoussis and several others refused to coach Kyrgios, Grosjean took up the task starting at the 2017 French Open and believes he can steer the Aussie in the right direction.

Kyrgios suffered a second round loss to Kevin Anderson at Roland Garros after a familiar meltdown. After going up a set and leading 4-2 in the second, Kyrgios committed a series of double-faults and suffered with consistency in his service game before smashing a bunch of racquets and then asking the chair umpire for a beer. It was utter chaos, but Grosjean wasn't ready to give up on Kyrgios.

“(He needs) to be a little bit more structured, mentally to be a little more tough, work on his fitness. Because if he’s stronger physically he’ll be tougher mentally, but that’s a process because he was alone for a long time it will take time. But it’s a good challenge and he’s a good kid to be around," Grosjean told Sport360.

Sebastien Grosjean not giving up on emotional Nick Kyrgios

At the start of the year, Kyrgios was booed by his own fans at Melbourne Park after blowing a two-set advantage against Italian Andreas Seppi. During the course of the match, Kyrgios was warned twice by umpires for swearing and racquet abuse but the 22-year-old blew his lid during the third set after blowing match point against the 89th-ranked Italian. Again, it was vintage Kyrgios.

But Grosjean believes he can help Kyrgios overcome his mental problems. "If you only take the easy things... I like the challenge. The good thing is we live next door in Boca so we can spend time together on court. That’s the work we’re going to do there that’s going to help him."

Kyrgios became acquainted with Grosjean during a training camp in Florida, where the Frenchman has lived for over two decades. "When you’re on tour, when you’re in tournaments, you don’t really work. Normally the work is done before and then we need to compete. And that’s the 10, 15 extra per cent make the difference on the tour but before you do that’s the 80-90 per cent you did before," added Grosjean.

Nick Kyrgios, Australia's No. 1 player, has been dealing with several injuries (shoulder and hip) ever since he pushed Roger Federer to a classic five-setter at the Miami Open semi-final in the first week of April. However, he's nearing full fitness once again and enters Wimbledon with a good chance to enter the second week. Kyrgios has a good track record on grass. He reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2014 and the fourth round the past two years. The 2017 Wimbledon gets underway on July 3.