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For 43 Minutes Nick Kyrgios Was The World’s Best Player
2 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
By Scoop Malinowski
Nick Kyrgios is struggling mightily to win any kind of singles match but for 43 minutes back in the summer of 2022 he was without a doubt the best player in the world.
Yes he was and he proved it in the first set of the 2022 Wimbledon final as he outplayed the greatest champion of tennis history Novak Djokovic 6-4. But that 6-4 score was rather deceiving as Kyrgios was dominant and made Djokovic look like an ordinary player and at times helpless and hopeless with his massive serving and pinpoint baseline striking off both wings.
Of course Nick’s competitive wiring and mental concentration were not able to sustain that level of tennis brilliance as the enigmatic Australian inexplicably distracted himself early in the second set, which was still on serve, by provoking an argument with his box for not cheering him sufficiently. Kyrgios’s level dropped and he would lose the second set 36, then the third set 46 and the fourth set tiebreaker was taken by the Serbian juggernaut.
But for those 43 minutes Nick Kyrgios was pure magic. Anybody who saw it will never forget seeing Nick Kyrgios at his very best. He could have beaten any man from history for that one set with how perfectly he was playing.
Kyrgios has always had an uncanny ability to produce magical results on the court against the best players. He is one of only three players to have beaten Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, the first time he played each (Dominik Hrbaty and Lleyton Hewitt also did it). Kyrgios also beat Djokovic the first two times they clashed.
Now at age 30, Kyrgios is a shell of his once great self. The maestro of many masterpieces, once ranked 11 in the world, is now stuck in oblivion at no. 671. And most tennis pundits have written him off a while ago.
He has been called the biggest waste of talent in tennis history… a clown… a headcase… a rebel… and worse. But let’s remember what Norman Mailer once said: “Judge man at his best, for that is what he was intended to be.”
Yes Nick Kyrgios has many flaws, maybe too many to count… maybe more flaws than any other elite professional. But for 43 minutes in July 2022, when he was 27 years old, Nick Kyrgios was the world’s greatest tennis player. And nobody can ever erase that truth.
Australia · Nick Kyrgios · Novak Djokovic · Roger Federer · Wimbledon · Yonex
Steve · January 8, 2026 at 2:19 pm
Signed copies of Facing Kyrgios will be available Christmass 2026 with a forward written by Bernard Tomic. 🙂
—he was also playing excellently in that Indian Wells match where he had Djokovic smashing his racquet.
Scoop Malinowski · January 8, 2026 at 3:28 pm
Facing Kyrgios is a darn good idea and I just may do it someday. But I’m focused on finishing Facing Agassi right now and it’s been a fun project, so many good stories with Agassi on and off court.