Re: Nick Kyrgios
: 13 sty 2018, 23:41
autor: arti
Nick Kyrgios serves up a treat ahead of Australian Open but will hope it's only the starter
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2018/ ... e-starter/
Spoiler:
As we approach next week’s Australian Open – a tournament shaping up as the most injury-depleted major in living memory – there is a sense of opportunity in the air.
Could we be talking about a new grand-slam champion at the end of the month? Could that man even be Nick Kyrgios, who faced down world No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday in a battle of two genuine contenders for the Melbourne title?
With Andy Murray already back home in Surrey, and the likes of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic yet to take to the match court this season, this is a good moment for the young pretenders to show off their talent. And Kyrgios is dripping in the stuff, the most naturally gifted shot-maker to emerge since the young Roger Federer two decades ago.
The trouble is, Kyrgios also spends much of his career on the point of physical collapse. In Brisbane on Saturday, he played the semi-final with strapping around his left knee, and did his best to avoid any rally longer than half-a-dozen shots.
It’s a tribute to Kyrgios’s phenomenal hand-skills that he was still able to beat Dimitrov – the Bulgarian who won the biggest title of his career at London’s O2 Arena in November – while operating under a physical constraint. Even so, you have to wonder whether he has the structural integrity to last a fortnight in Melbourne.
“My knee’s sore,” Kyrgios said after his 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory, “but it’s good enough to play, and hopefully I can keep serving like that tomorrow.”
Dimitrov had no response for Kyrgios Credit: ap
Kyrgios’s loose-limbed serve, which is up there with the best on the tour, certainly functions as a labour-saving device. In this match, 19 of his 50 first serves were aces, and if he maintains that sort of ratio he will avoid a considerable amount of foot-slogging.
Dimitrov, the defending champion here, mixed bewilderment with admiration at his post-match press conference. “On some points he was carelessly hitting the ball, and they were getting in. A lot of balls were pretty casual, where he slashed away. He was hitting through, and it didn’t matter what I do. Whatever he tried, it was just great.”
Himself a creative strokeplayer with a wide palette of options, Dimitrov is not the first man to have been baffled by the Kyrgios circus. He simply couldn’t compute what was going on across the net: dipping slices one minute, gigantic haymakers the next. Kyrgios would chip and charge, then toss in a cheeky little drop shot, leaving his opponent hopelessly off-balance.
Sunday’s final will find Kyrgios starting as a strong favourite to beat the USA’s Ryan Harrison, a player he has thumped on their two previous meetings. But a title in Brisbane, satisfying as it might feel, would only represent an hors d’oeuvre. The main course of the Australian swing will begin in Melbourne Monday week.
Would-be kings like Kyrgios and Dimitrov can be grateful that the Australian Open draw is already missing Murray and Kei Nishikori. Then you have Nadal returning from the knee problems that forced him out of the ATP Finals, Djokovic still wondering if his right elbow can sustain serious matchplay, and Stan Wawrinka looking to play his first event since knee surgery in July.
Still, there remains one member of the Big Four – or Big Five, depending on how you calculate it – who looks to be coming into some form. In Perth on Saturday, Roger Federer took on 20-year-old Alexander Zverev as part of the Hopman Cup exhibition. Admittedly, this match did not carry rankings points, but it was still a meeting between two members of the world’s top four. And the way Federer pulled away after losing the first-set tie-break, dropping only two more games in his 6-7, 6-0, 6-2 victory, sent out an ominous signal.
“I did very well today, much better than last year,” said Federer, who also used the Hopman Cup as his build-up event for the 2017 Australian Open. Everyone remembers his extraordinary run in Melbourne 12 months ago, which included victories over four top-ten players.
Dimitrov is 26 and Kyrgios just 22, so they can be confident that their turn will come at some point. For the moment, though, Federer’s smooth beginning to the new season should remind us all that - even at 36 - he remains arguably the finest hard-court player in the world.
Could we be talking about a new grand-slam champion at the end of the month? Could that man even be Nick Kyrgios, who faced down world No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday in a battle of two genuine contenders for the Melbourne title?
With Andy Murray already back home in Surrey, and the likes of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic yet to take to the match court this season, this is a good moment for the young pretenders to show off their talent. And Kyrgios is dripping in the stuff, the most naturally gifted shot-maker to emerge since the young Roger Federer two decades ago.
The trouble is, Kyrgios also spends much of his career on the point of physical collapse. In Brisbane on Saturday, he played the semi-final with strapping around his left knee, and did his best to avoid any rally longer than half-a-dozen shots.
It’s a tribute to Kyrgios’s phenomenal hand-skills that he was still able to beat Dimitrov – the Bulgarian who won the biggest title of his career at London’s O2 Arena in November – while operating under a physical constraint. Even so, you have to wonder whether he has the structural integrity to last a fortnight in Melbourne.
“My knee’s sore,” Kyrgios said after his 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory, “but it’s good enough to play, and hopefully I can keep serving like that tomorrow.”
Dimitrov had no response for Kyrgios Credit: ap
Kyrgios’s loose-limbed serve, which is up there with the best on the tour, certainly functions as a labour-saving device. In this match, 19 of his 50 first serves were aces, and if he maintains that sort of ratio he will avoid a considerable amount of foot-slogging.
Dimitrov, the defending champion here, mixed bewilderment with admiration at his post-match press conference. “On some points he was carelessly hitting the ball, and they were getting in. A lot of balls were pretty casual, where he slashed away. He was hitting through, and it didn’t matter what I do. Whatever he tried, it was just great.”
Himself a creative strokeplayer with a wide palette of options, Dimitrov is not the first man to have been baffled by the Kyrgios circus. He simply couldn’t compute what was going on across the net: dipping slices one minute, gigantic haymakers the next. Kyrgios would chip and charge, then toss in a cheeky little drop shot, leaving his opponent hopelessly off-balance.
Sunday’s final will find Kyrgios starting as a strong favourite to beat the USA’s Ryan Harrison, a player he has thumped on their two previous meetings. But a title in Brisbane, satisfying as it might feel, would only represent an hors d’oeuvre. The main course of the Australian swing will begin in Melbourne Monday week.
Would-be kings like Kyrgios and Dimitrov can be grateful that the Australian Open draw is already missing Murray and Kei Nishikori. Then you have Nadal returning from the knee problems that forced him out of the ATP Finals, Djokovic still wondering if his right elbow can sustain serious matchplay, and Stan Wawrinka looking to play his first event since knee surgery in July.
Still, there remains one member of the Big Four – or Big Five, depending on how you calculate it – who looks to be coming into some form. In Perth on Saturday, Roger Federer took on 20-year-old Alexander Zverev as part of the Hopman Cup exhibition. Admittedly, this match did not carry rankings points, but it was still a meeting between two members of the world’s top four. And the way Federer pulled away after losing the first-set tie-break, dropping only two more games in his 6-7, 6-0, 6-2 victory, sent out an ominous signal.
“I did very well today, much better than last year,” said Federer, who also used the Hopman Cup as his build-up event for the 2017 Australian Open. Everyone remembers his extraordinary run in Melbourne 12 months ago, which included victories over four top-ten players.
Dimitrov is 26 and Kyrgios just 22, so they can be confident that their turn will come at some point. For the moment, though, Federer’s smooth beginning to the new season should remind us all that - even at 36 - he remains arguably the finest hard-court player in the world.
