Tennis Prose




Jun/18

22

Is Kyrgios About To Revolutionize Tennis?


By Scoop Malinowski

Nick Kyrgios is cruising along, quietly posting up excellent results. Nobody expects anything major from Nick at this point, there have been too many false alarms and injuries and tanked results.

But what if Nick is as sly as a fox? What if he’s softened everyone up to expect the next crash or tank but this time he’s going to show us all the real, ultimate mature model of Nick Kyrgios, the one we’ve been frustratingly waiting to see for years?

Semis last week and another 76 in the third loss to Federer in Stuttgart, the clear favorite to win Wimbledon. Another win streak in Queens, another semi (Cilic next after beating Lopez today). Kyrgios could be plotting his secret coup of Wimbledon.

Maybe just maybe this is the moment we have been waiting for, when Nick Kyrgios has decided to make his biggest, best effort to win a major.

It’s the right time. He’s just about dead even with Roger on grass and he’s beaten Rafa. Djokovic is still a question mark. Cilic is a threat but Nick beat the Croatian in the Marseille final two years ago in straight sets, their last meeting.

This could be the the long awaited Nick Kyrgios Grand Slam explosion. The Real McCoy this time.

Nick is playing superb tennis. He’s at the top of his game, so confident that he’s even adding in his trademark tweeners and trick shots every chance he gets and they are working. It’s like Muhammad Ali doing his Ali Shuffle and showboating tricks. Super athletes who do these showboat tricks are supremely confident in their form that they feel they can do anything.

Kyrgios absolutely has a very good chance to shock the world in London this year. He’s long overdue.

If he does win Wimbledon, can you imagine the impact it would have on the younger tennis generations? Can you imagine all the kid players who will copy and imitate and be inspired by Nick’s showboating style of play?

It could alter the sport and commence a new era. If Nick can somehow conquer Rafa and Fed it would show the world that slacker, casual, show off tennis, if performed properly, is superior to even Federer’s genius art and Rafa’s ultimate blue collar/hard work methods. Kyrgios winning Wimbledon would prove to the world that showboat hot shot tennis is the best way to play, and you can even win Wimbledon with it.

It could spark a revolution of how tennis is played. The nuts and bolts, x and o, grind it out tennis could be replaced by a new system. The Nick Kyrgios system.

Frankly, I would like to see this revolution take place. Everybody loves a rebel who comes in and shakes up the status quo.

Tennis is overdue for some major upheaval, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have ruled with their iron fists for a few years too long. It’s time for a new King to overtake the throne.

Is “King Kyrgios” finally ready? He’s as ready as he ever was, or even more so. The question is, Is tennis ready for a major shake-up?

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75 comments

  • Hartt · June 22, 2018 at 1:36 pm

    Even if Nick is playing great tennis, like he is right now, the elephant in the room regarding Wimbledon is will he be injury-free? Especially with the best of five over 2 weeks, the risk of injury for Nick is very real.

    As far as being an example for young players, Nick can win with his style of play because he is supremely talented. It’s hard to imagine many players coming along that have his amazing talent, and without it, I don’t see them having great results with “slacker, casual, show off tennis.”

  • Chazz · June 22, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    ‘Foe got Chardied. Going 0 for 9 on break points is tough to overcome.

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 22, 2018 at 2:12 pm

    Hartt, Kyrgios, even if he never wins a major, is the type of star that will surely inspire many young players who will reach the top 100. Marcelo Rios was such a player, he inspired Federer, Dolgopolov, Nishioka, Young, Sharapova, to all become great players. The impact and influence of Nick will be greater if he can win a major or be no. 1.

  • catherine · June 22, 2018 at 2:59 pm

    Scoop – how did Rios inspire Sharapova ? Has she said so ? A strange combination.

    And Young a great player ? I don’t know much about him except he seems to be an object of ridicule these days if contributors to this site are to be believed.

    On the whole I agree with Hartt, but it’s true that Nick’s charisma etc may inspire kids who will actually end up playing nothing like him and maybe only in it for the fun.

  • Scoop.malinowski · June 22, 2018 at 3:55 pm

    Maria told me she liked Rios so did her dad, Rios hit with her too at ing when she was young. You never know how Nick will inspire or what young force will be moved by Nick. Kids love Nick, he has an influence. Rebels always inspire certain people.

  • Hartt · June 22, 2018 at 5:17 pm

    Nick may well inspire youngsters to try tennis, but that does not mean that they will play like him, at least any successful ones. The players that you mentioned that Rios influenced (and I don’t know enough about his influence to know if that was the case), play very different styles, so they weren’t necessarily copying his style.

  • Hartt · June 22, 2018 at 5:44 pm

    Here’s another young player who will inspire kids to take up tennis. But it will be hard for players to emulate Denis’ style, unless they are lefties, have a one-handed backhand, are super flexible, and play fearless tennis. They can aspire to the too-small cap, with the tab sticking out, however. 🙂

    We took @denis_shapo to surprise our ballgirls today @QueensTennis. Reaction was incredible. Never heard screams like it. And Denis spoke so inspiringly to the girls. He’s a superstar. Look forward to seeing him back with us for many many years to come #FeverTreeChampionships

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 22, 2018 at 7:27 pm

    Hartt, are you familiar with Rios’s play style? Dolgo absolutely tries to play the Rios tempo and creative loose style. Young and Nishioka emulate Rios too they just don’t look like him because their athleticism is different but they both love Rios. Maria of course is built all wrong to play like Rios but if she was the right size we’d see it more in her.

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 22, 2018 at 7:28 pm

    Agree Hartt, Shap will be a gamechanger – people of all ages love the kid. Even the old timers love his game and his potential.

  • Chazz · June 22, 2018 at 8:26 pm

    This is interesting – Sock is in the qualifying draw for Eastbourne. Now we will really find out if he can beat anyone.

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 22, 2018 at 8:50 pm

    Chazz, that is odd, Sock is still ranked 14 but he’s in Eastbourne qualies as an ALT and no. 1 seed. He plays Dan Brands who is no pushover, he has a big serve. Sock should win this. It’s a good sign that he’s opted to play qualis. At least he’s trying to right the ship trying to get match play. He could get confidence from winning two or three quali matches.

  • Duke Carnoustie · June 23, 2018 at 2:15 am

    A leopard can’t change his spots. Kyrgios is a bum until proven otherwise. Case closed. Winning over Edmund and Lopez doesn’t change that.

  • Duke Carnoustie · June 23, 2018 at 2:19 am

    Scoop have you lost your marbles? Young and Dolgopolov as great players? Has either been to the semis of a major? Inspired by Rios?

    Scoop I need to smoke the stuff you got!

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 23, 2018 at 8:06 am

    Kyrgios has a lot of bad results but he’s the only man to beat prime Fed Rafa and Djok the first time he played each. Hewitt did it but each were pre prime.

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 23, 2018 at 8:06 am

    Duke, Dolgopolov has shown many flashes of greatness. Young was a great junior with a few pro highlights.

  • Chazz · June 23, 2018 at 9:49 am

    Down goes Sock to #316 journeyman Brands, 6-4, 7-6 in the first round of Eastbourne qualies. This is a stunning downward spiral when you consider Sock is 25 years old and doesn’t have an injury.

  • catherine · June 23, 2018 at 10:04 am

    Plain old Cilic’s in the Queen’s final. The sponsor must be furious.

  • catherine · June 23, 2018 at 10:16 am

    Czechmate in Birmingham: Kvitova v Rybarikova.

    Get your 5th of the year Petra (Hartt wants her treat)and then skip Eastbourne.

  • catherine · June 23, 2018 at 10:24 am

    Slipped up there – Rybarikova’s Slovakian.

  • Hartt · June 23, 2018 at 11:07 am

    I could not see Petra’s match because I was watching Felix, who won against de Bakker in 3 sets in the Blois SF.

    However, apparently she was what we call “Scary” Petra today, as opposed to “Good” or “Bad” Petra. There is no way any player wants to face “Scary” Petra.

  • catherine · June 23, 2018 at 11:47 am

    Petra’s playing in Eastbourne but I hope she doesn’t reach the final 🙂

    She needs a rest. A third W’don is what she wants.

    I watched Svitolina lose in B’ham and what’s missing is a killer shot. Her game’s good, but it’s all at the same level.

  • Dan Markowitz · June 23, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    Agree. Tennis Channel was making a big to-do about how the Djoko-Cilic finals was a great must-see match, but it would’ve been much more that way at the Queens club if it was Kyrgios and not Cilic in the finals.

    Don’t look now, but the Koz is now #199.

  • Hartt · June 23, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    I wonder if Petra will still play Eastbourne. I agree, she needs a rest before Wimby. Would love to see her win Wimbledon again, and she is playing so well right now that the title is a real possibility.

  • Hartt · June 23, 2018 at 12:30 pm

    Poor Cilic, he gets no respect! I have to admit that I can’t get excited about him, but at his best he is an excellent player and the final should be a good match.

  • catherine · June 23, 2018 at 1:33 pm

    Haven’t seen such a variety of slice, chopping and net play for a long time as on show between Kenin and Maria in Mallorca.

    In fact I’ve never seen Maria before – although she’s German No 3 and not a youngster. Interesting to watch but won’t win her the title v Sevastova.

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 23, 2018 at 4:53 pm

    Cilic was in Queens final last year too, lost to Lopez.

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 23, 2018 at 4:55 pm

    Sock’s confidence tank is rusted out now, the last drop of confidence dried up about three months ago, he’s a ghost of himself now. Shocking downfall. Now he just has to hope for a miracle win streak out of nowhere. Which happens. Maybe he should start wearing his cross again, he abandoned that a while ago.

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 23, 2018 at 5:07 pm

    I really like Kvitova and I know for a fact she is a very sweet nice person but when she’s got the fire in her belly and really wants to win, she has a witch mode. She is one mean lady when she is in that rare witch mode, screaming and screeching with so much passion and intensity and starvation hunger. Kvitova’s intensity can match Serena and Maria’s. When she gets like that she looks ready to wear the black witch hat and ride out of there on a broom. But that’s what it takes to win at the highest level, you have to summon the beast mode or witch mode. To get that lil extra push.

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 23, 2018 at 5:10 pm

    Cilic is another nice guy but on the court he’s a robot android machine. Wish he would yell come on or do some big fist pumps or yell to the crowd, do anything to interact with the crowd. He’s great but his on court personality is terribly boring. There is absolutely no color in Cilic on the court, he’s simply black and white and like from 1920 or something.

  • Hartt · June 23, 2018 at 5:45 pm

    Have to agree that Cilic’s on-court personality is boring, although he will fist pump. During today’s match he even did it when sitting during a changeover. Today they often showed his very pretty wife watching. Perhaps he wants to impress her with his play. In any case, he played very well today throughout the match.

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 23, 2018 at 5:50 pm

    Hartt, Yes he does show a tiny bit of fire and color but he suffocates or suppresses it. It’s clearly there but he doesn’t want to show it, express it. I think he would be even better if he did and fans would get behind him. I never have met a single Cilic fan, and I never heard anyone, fan or media say I want to go watch Cilic play. He’s boring to watch practice too, one or two points and you leave. But he’s an excellent player.

  • Hartt · June 23, 2018 at 5:54 pm

    Kvitova is my favourite female player, and I even like her when she is in “witch” mode. It does present a big contrast to her off-court personality, but then the top players do have that intense, ruthless streak on the court, even when they are sweethearts off it.

    Sometimes Petra is what we call “Scary” Petra, not because she is witch-like, but because she can make any shot from anywhere on the court – hitting one unbelievable winner after another. When Petra in the zone like that, her opponents are totally helpless. Fortunately for her opponents, Scary Petra only shows up occasionally, but “Good” Petra will win most of her matches in any case. And, as Kvitova fans know only too well, there is also “Bad” Petra, who can’t make any shots at all. Even Petra herself will refer to “Good” and “Bad” Petra, she is very aware of what her fans are saying.

  • Hartt · June 23, 2018 at 5:59 pm

    There was at least one rabid Cilic fan. When Marin was an established player and Raonic was still on his way up, we would have long discussions about which guy was the better player. She was very intense in her Cilic fandom. Unfortunately, she died a couple years ago when still a young woman. But whenever Marin is doing well I think of her.

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 23, 2018 at 6:10 pm

    That’s the one and only Cilic fan I have heard of. Hope there are more. Kvitova is such a nice person she probably has to fight herself to suppress her witch mode, and be regular O Petra mode. I like when she gets into her witch mode, she really arrests your attention when she’s like that so ruthless and so tenacious. I think her natural instincts are to be a nice person and calm and cool but she has learned that “to be the best you have to get blood on your hands.”

  • Hartt · June 23, 2018 at 6:16 pm

    Doubtless there are Cilic fans in Croatia. Today a couple little boys were wearing caps in what I think of as the Croatia check pattern.

    On another site a few of us are discussing Cilic right now. The consensus is that he is a nice individual and a good player, but we find him boring on the court.

  • Joe Blow · June 23, 2018 at 7:09 pm

    Time travel back to 1980, and Scoop would be saying Borg needs to fist pump, and yell more

    Respect Cilic’s tennis. 5 in the world, Major Champion.. hot wife..I’m sure in his mind, things are working out. Quarters, Semi’s and Finals don’t need players screaming “ Come ons” to sell tickets.
    Maybe he’s not cashing in on Exo money, but he’s having a great career

  • Hartt · June 23, 2018 at 8:13 pm

    And in today’s Tennis Podcast, both Catherine and Gigi called Cilic “the loveliest man in tennis,” and both give him a slight edge over Djokovic in tomorrow’s final.

  • Duke Carnoustie · June 23, 2018 at 10:27 pm

    I told you Sock was down to DY levels. Both have the same disease. It is curtains.

  • Duke Carnoustie · June 23, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    Fritz v. Donaldson in Eastbourne!!! What a showdown.

  • catherine · June 24, 2018 at 2:27 am

    Scoop – not sure if you meant that literally, about Petra having to get ‘blood on her hands’, but of course it is literally true and Petra’s recovery from such a traumatic incident is an indication of her true character – outer sweetness, inner steel.

    I doubt there’s a day Kvitova steps on court that she doesn’t give thanks that she has a) her hand and b) her life. Every match, won or lost, must seem a bonus to her. A role model for all.

  • Hartt · June 24, 2018 at 6:37 am

    Petra was my favourite female player before the attack, but the way she has handled everything and the way she has come back to playing so well is simply amazing. She is indeed a “role model for all.”

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 24, 2018 at 9:02 am

    Donaldson seems to be the lone wolf of the young Americans, he doesn’t seem to be part of the group and Gambill told me he only likes him to practice with guys who go all out in practice, players like Coric and Harrison.

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 24, 2018 at 9:04 am

    Sock has got to be shocked at the sudden turn of events where he was an elite star and now suddenly he’s cannon fodder for journeymen and sub journeymen. Things change quickly in the tennis world. Coric up now on Fed, 76…

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 24, 2018 at 9:08 am

    Catherine, it was a poor taste comment, I had totally forgotten about Kvitova’s tragedy. I used the quote from my friend Phil Anselmo because it means that you have to be ruthless and ice cold to get to the top. In any field.

  • catherine · June 24, 2018 at 9:36 am

    Scoop – I didn’t think you meant that comment in a bad way – I thought maybe it just slipped out, but it was of course extremely apposite, if accidentally so.

  • Joe Blow · June 24, 2018 at 9:46 am

    Somewhere Andrew is shocked after watching Coric, who he had no respect for beat Fed on grass..

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 24, 2018 at 10:01 am

    The shock fall of Sock means that the equal opposite is possible, a total scrub journeyman can become an elite star in the span of mere months. Sandgren, Cecchinato are not stars yet but they became elite players out of the blue. Estrella became an elite player out of the blue. Like Andrew often said, You can’t mail in the results.

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 24, 2018 at 10:02 am

    Berdych pulls out of Wimbledon a whole week before because of a back problem. How does he know it won’t heal in a week with rest?

  • catherine · June 24, 2018 at 10:53 am

    Hartt- sorry no treats with Fed (what happened ?) but two Petras showed up in Birmingham and it looks like Scary Petra squashed Ryberikova in final 2 sets.

  • Chazz · June 24, 2018 at 11:15 am

    It’s always a surprise when Fed loses on grass but if it’s a NextGener doing it, it’s no surprise it is Coric. I think he and Chung (if he ever gets healthy) are destined for elite status and slam championships.

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