{"id":10162,"date":"2016-10-12T18:42:05","date_gmt":"2016-10-12T12:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/5-sports-stars-who-struggled-to-love-their-sport\/"},"modified":"2016-10-13T00:46:44","modified_gmt":"2016-10-12T18:46:44","slug":"5-sports-stars-who-struggled-to-love-their-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/5-sports-stars-who-struggled-to-love-their-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"5 sports stars who struggled to love their sport"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Australian Nick Kyrgios crashed out of the Shanghai Masters and appeared to give up during a 6-3 6-1 defeat to qualifier Mischa Zverev.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios, 21, had said he was \u201cbored\u201d after a first-round victory over Sam Querrey, which followed a run to the Japan Open title last week.<\/p>\n

The Australian\u2019s antics got us thinking: is he alone in struggling to love his sport?<\/p>\n

Nick Kyrgios \u2013 Tennis<\/h2>\n
\n

Not good enough today on many levels, I'm better than that. I can go on about excuses but there are none. Sorry #StillAWorkInProgress \u00f0\u009f\u0099\u008f\u00f0\u009f\u008f\u00bd\u00f0\u009f\u0098\u00a2\u00f0\u009f\u0098\u009e<\/p>\n

\u2014 Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) October 12, 2016<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Being tipped as a future Grand Slam champion doesn\u2019t seem to appeal much to Kyrgios. The 21-year-old has professed his preference for basketball over tennis, and it shows.<\/p>\n

From shouting at umpires to cursing his own poor form and frustration, the Australian rarely seems happy on the court.<\/p>\n

His latest incident in Shanghai, lofting a serve up for Zverev to smash back, has left the sport red-faced again. Does Kyrgios have the desire to fulfil his potential? It doesn\u2019t look like it.<\/p>\n

Andre Agassi \u2013 Tennis<\/h2>\n
(Elise Amendola\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The American tennis star of the Nineties revealed plenty with the release of his autobiography, Open. In it, the four-time Australian Open champion acknowledged taking crystal meth, but also revealed his feelings for his sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI play tennis for a living even though I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Still, he managed eight grand slams in an era dominated by fellow American Pete Sampras. Imagine how many he could have won if he was enjoying himself?<\/p>\n

Benoit Assou-Ekotto \u2013 Football<\/h2>\n
(Vincent Dargent\/EMPICS Sport)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a Premier League player in the 21st century, Benoit Assou-Ekotto could have maximised his earnings and sponsorship deals, but instead he prefers to buy \u00c2\u00a323 football boots from eBay. <\/p>\n

Assou-Ekotto\u2019s just not all that interested in the big-money benefits of being a modern footballer, telling The Guardian: \u201cThe world of football is not good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former Tottenham player went on to say: \u201cIt\u2019s a good job and I don\u2019t say that I hate football but it\u2019s not my passion.\u201d Football\u2019s just not that big a deal for Benoit.<\/p>\n

Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan \u2013 Snooker<\/h2>\n
(Martin Rickett\/PA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For a five-time world champion, it seems a little odd to suggest Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan hates snooker. And it would be wrong to make that statement without context.<\/p>\n

The Rocket has endured what appears to be a love-hate relationship with the baize throughout his career, swearing, hitting the table, conceding matches early on and taking huge amounts of time out from the season.<\/p>\n

But when he\u2019s on good terms with the sport, there\u2019s no-one better or more entertaining. He has the record for the most 147s in tournament play, as well as the quickest maximum in history (five minutes 20 seconds). <\/p>\n

Paddy Barnes \u2013 Boxing<\/h2>\n
(Brendan Moran\/Sportsfile)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back in 2010, Northern Irish light-flyweight boxer Paddy Barnes had just begun his Commonwealth Games campaign with a win against Scotland\u2019s Iain Butcher. He would go on to win the Commonwealth gold, but his brutal honesty after the fight came as a shock to some.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really watch boxing,\u201d he said. \u201cI find it boring \u2013 it\u2019s all holding and grappling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Olympic bronze medallist went on to say he didn\u2019t mind watching Manny Pacquiao or Marco Antonio Barrera, but of his next opponent he said: \u201cI\u2019m fighting the Australian next and I don\u2019t know a thing about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

So not exactly a student of the game, then.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian Nick Kyrgios crashed out of the Shanghai Masters and appeared to give up during a 6-3 6-1 defeat to qualifier Mischa Zverev. Kyrgios, 21, had said he was \u201cbored\u201d after a first-round victory over Sam Querrey, which followed a run to the Japan Open title last week. The Australian\u2019s antics got us thinking: is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10162"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}