Now, while still fond of the type of language that the ATP and tennis clubs around the world frown upon, Kyrgios has become the unlikely voice of reason.

While others have been swanning around Serbia and its surrounds on the ill-fated Adria Tour, the 25-year-old has called them out at every turn – and there have been turns aplenty.

Kyrgios called out the nightclub videos while referencing his own checkered past.

“Don’t at me for anything I’ve done that has been ‘irresponsible’ or classified as ‘stupidity’, this takes the cake,” he wrote on Twitter.

Kyrgios also called the decision to play at all “boneheaded”, while wishing their speedy recovery.

“Boneheaded decision to go ahead with the ‘exhibition’, speedy recovery fellas, but that’s what happens when you disregard all protocols.”

The “Typhoid Mary” of tennis tours came after Djokovic – a renowned “anti-vaxxer” – had stated that he would consider delaying his return to the ATP Tour if a vaccine was compulsory, a move criticised by Serbian government epidemiologist Predrag Kon. Djokovic is also against proposals to limit player support teams when the ATP Tour returns.

“Congratulations. Such leadership” Kyrgios tweeted after the Adria Tour was put out of its misery. “Game leadership, leadership leads by 2 games to love” was the caption on his Instagram Story after Ivanisevic announced his own positive test last Friday.

Djokovic is the leader of the ATP Players Council while the 25-year-old Australian has long been seen as a brat, a bad boy and worse.

“Has Nick Kyrgios finally grown up?” was a question asked by The Sydney Morning Herald back in 2018. Boris Becker said the 25-year-old had finally done so. He also won a lot of people over with his response to the bush fires that ravaged his home country, and his behaviour as part of the Australia team at the ATP Cup.

Now there is no question. Just as he led the way with the sport’s response to the deadly fires, he has with the coronavirus pandemic.

Public perception can be a dangerous thing, as Kyrgios’ brother Christos intimated to The Age in January at the Australian Open. Donations to the player’s NK Foundation suffer when he “gets into trouble” or “is the subject of often harsh media coverage”.

Perhaps the only underhand thing about Kyrgios are some of his serves.

“Very little that Nick does is selfishly motivated, there always has to be a reason that is much bigger than just himself. I think philanthropy has given him a core, daily purpose,” Christos told The Age.

Speaking up for what he believes in is changing opinions of Kyrgios – and Djokovic would agree he has the responsibility to do so.

“I think every athlete has a huge platform, and we have a megaphone in our hands. Every word that we say transcends quite far, and echoes in the ear of a lot of young people around the world,” Djokovic told CNBC last summer.

Who has been using theirs more responsibly during the pandemic? Djokovic, whose wife Jelena was censured by Instagram for a post linking the coronavirus to 5G networks, or Kyrgios?

On court there is no contest between Djokovic and Kyrgios, of course.

Today was meant to be the first day of Wimbledon, a tournament Djokovic has won five times and Kyrgios has not been past the quarter final.

He will not improve that this year with the All-England Club pulling their tournament. Others have not been quite so decisive, with the US Open among those slams who refused to shut the door on a 2020 event.

Here too, Kyrgios has been outspoken.

“Smh – people that live in the US of course are pushing the Open to go ahead ‘Selfish’ I’ll get my hazmat suit ready for when I travel from Australia and then have to quarantine for 2 weeks on my return,” he wrote on Twitter.

There was a time when many in the game would not touch Kyrgios – even in a hazmat suit, so toxic was his attitude.

John McEnroe, arguably the sport’s first “bad boy” and a long-time supporter of Kyrgios, called him “a black eye for the sport” after his 2017 Aussie Open collapse.

Now it is Kyrgios who is dishing out the shiners to the game’s great and good. They will do well to listen to him over the leader of the player council, even if they might not like how he says it.