andre agassi
Andre Agassi won eight Grand Slam titles in his career Getty

Australian tennis superstar Nick Kyrgios has been a controversial figure both on and off the court and has been labelled "bad boy of tennis". Another player, who in his time was also given the "bad boy" tag and is now a legend has come out in support of the Australian, claiming that 21-year-old can become the number one player "if he fixes his attitude".

Andre Agassi, who won eight grand slam titles in his career, was one of the most exciting players to watch on the tennis court at the time. The 46-year-old has admitted that he hated the sport early on, but believes that Kyrgios needs to look at his career closely and learn lessons from it.

"I'm always amazed when I look back at my life and hating tennis. It's like hating an inanimate object. Tennis is what you want to be," Agassi said, as quoted by The Guardian.

Agassi held the number one ranking in tennis for 101 weeks and feels that the Australian can reach the same level only if he employs a full time coach. Kyrgios is currently ranked 15<sup>th in ATP Tennis rankings.

"From a talent perspective, absolutely. He needs some form of inspiration to engage and he needs to put a team around him to allow him to execute those changes daily," Agassi said.

The 21-year-old is currently without a coach and has failed to translate his potentials and win trophies. In fact, Kyrgios has just won two ATP titles in his career with his best finish in a Grand Slam tournament coming at the Wimbledon Championships in 2014 and Australian Open last year, where he reached the quarter finals.

The Australian is currently in action at the Chengdu Open in China where is seeded second.