Agassi dishes out brutal advice for Kyrgios

Former World No.1 Andre Agassi is the latest tennis legend to express his opinion about controversial Aussie firebrand Nick Kyrgios.

Like Kyrgios, Agassi was rebellious, controversial and apparently hated tennis as a youngster, but the American eight-time grand slam winner says there's one massive difference.

"I find him a fascinating talent and a fascinating person in a sense that he's still young and pretty clear on his feelings about that game, and he has a openness to really speak it," Agassi told Australian reporters at a Telstra event on Thursday.

"We both have some strong rebellions. I'm not sure for what reasons his are but he also seems pretty clear of his rebellion.

"For me, I was confused by my rebellion. My guess from the outside is he has the luxury of knowing himself a bit better than I did, so hopefully we'll see from the outside a career of something changing in front of our eyes for the better and growing up.

"We all have to grow up but we never stop learning so I don't say that condescendingly, I say it honestly."

Agassi often admitted to not being in love with tennis after being pushed into it by his father at a young age, sentiments regularly echoed by Kyrgios.

Agassi said it was completely up to the 21-year-old to decide where tennis fits into his life because "there's no reason for anyone at any age not to be fully engaged in how they choose to go about what it is they’re doing."

"You can try to give advice for him to overcome the demons or the perspectives but I think that's not healthy for him in the long run," Agassi said.

"I think he needs to come to terms with what he wants from himself, what he wants for himself and tennis is an innocent bystander in that dilemma.

"Hopefully he'll find good reason and good success in his life on a daily basis, whether that means tennis or not.

"You have to come to terms with who you are and find where tennis plays a part in that."

Asked if Kyrgios had the ability to become world No.1, Agassi said:

"From a talent perspective, absolutely.

"But you have to solve the rollercoaster of it because you don’t reach number one with peaks and valleys. You have to balance it out.

"You can win grand slams and go to heaven for two weeks but really, being No.1 requires sustainable effort that doesn't allow for that kind of tumultuous ride."