Everyone's talking about Nick Kirius.
For or against, good or bad, beneficial to sports or harmful to it - everyone has an opinion and the format to express it.
The media, the public and social networks have been dealing in recent days with the exploits of the Australian who was due to play today (Friday) for the first time in his career in the Grand Slam semi-final (but Rafael Nadal did not overcome his stomach injury and announced last night that he is retiring from the tournament).
Like coriander, Kirius does not leave the palate indifferent.
Either you hate him or you die for him.
Either they are allergic to it, or they strongly claim that it upgrades every serving.
For haters, there are their reasons.
"Anyone who loves Nick Kirius' tennis probably doesn't like tennis," someone wrote on Twitter, gaining resonance and support.
To many, the 27-year-old Australian represents all that is wrong with white sport.
It has no elegance and class, it is cuddly, cheeky, uninvesting, so much so that it consciously commits the greatest sin of the sport - taking pure and visible potential and throwing it in the trash.
Not to mention the dirty mouth, cursing, spitting at the crowd and off-court behavior.
This week, exactly on the day he said "every post is good publicity", it was announced that he would stand trial following an assault on his ex-girlfriend.
For his opponents, tennis is a game and the results he achieves cannot hide the shell.
For them Kirius is the "bad boy" of tennis, and images are known to cling to a person with contact glue.
On the other side, there are the lovers.
They are here because of Kirius, the tennis player and the man, but also because of the haters.
The antagonism that the Australian produces in the "upper class" has attracted all the non-conformists, the rebels, those who see sport as a reflection of life itself.
Nick Kirius.
He has no middle ground, Photo: Reuters
Supporters of the Australian do not seek wholeness and purity of virtues, this is abundant in others.
They want the roughness, the personal story, the openness, and all the range of emotions that a person has to offer.
And Kirius, is the closest thing in world tennis to the world and its fullness.
He is able to get the nerves out with a low and defiant submission and a second later produce a brilliant point that leaves an open mouth, he has the ability to act like an unrestrained pushtech and a moment later take out sentences full of emotion that produce compassion.
For those who regard sports as entertainment, Kirius is the best entertainer among tennis players.
They do not judge him, they feel him.
They are mostly excited about it.
From darkness to light
The current Wimbledon tournament, in which Kirius advanced to the Grand Slam semi-finals for the first time in his career, has managed to intensify this debate.
He upgraded the anti towards him with a spit in the direction of one of the fans, verbal attacks towards the referees of the chair, an exchange of words in the victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas and the reports of the impending prosecution.
On the other hand, the fan base swelled and became a real cult.
Beyond the sporty and quality tennis aspect displayed by the world-ranked 40th, Kirius has given its supporters the most precious product of all: its guts.
"I never dreamed I would reach the semi-finals, I was sure my ship sailed," he said after the quarter-final victory over Christian Garrin, revealing the dark places he had reached and the fact that he had faced suicidal thoughts.
The Australian explained that he does not have a coach because he does not want to be a burden on others, and managed with the help of a sense of humor and honesty to clarify why he is who he is and what he is.
Viewers and listeners, meanwhile, continue to choose how to process his words.
Black or white, no middle.
Some have prayed for his defeat against Nadal (without success), and some are dreaming of him winning a tournament that would be equivalent to the successful season finale of a beloved series.
Everyone has an opinion and arguments about what should happen, and this is the most prominent thing in the Australian that stands out at Wimbledon more than anywhere else in the past.
More than Chenik Kirius teaches his viewers about tennis and sports, he teaches them about themselves.
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