Has Kyrgios Finally Solved His Self-Puzzle?

I’ve been at the CitiOpen most of the week. Nick is must watch 🎾. You can’t take your eyes off him – the most talented player in men’s tennis. I didn’t say best, yet, simply most talented. He’s serving huge bombs, striking the ball harder and cleaner than his opponents, and putting on a show of all time squash shots too. It’s just bedlam in DC this week, an entertaining show not seen since the very early Agassi years…the Stephano Adidas delivery tonight – c’mon that’s some prime-time gold!!! Damn, tomorrow’s gonna be fun!!

This may indicate a turning point for Nick, but then again it may not. He has played very well in individual tourneys before and everyone began predicting big things for him, but then he regressed to the “old” Nick. I hope he does continue to play well, but I’ll wait until he is in the top 15 before getting too excited. Even that is no guarantee because he has been as high as 13. Going into Washington he was No.52, although this week’s results moved him to No.34 in the live rankings and if he wins he will go to the mid 20s.

Nick is an enigma, back and forth between charisma and nasty. But he is a people person and that is what tennis needs. We ran into him last summer ago at Evert’s academy in Boca Raton. He played king of the court with the kids, taking his place at the back of the line when he tried a trick shot and lost the point. He was absolutely phenomenal with the kids. Frankly thinking about Nick, I was just lamenting how boring women’s tennis has become and needs some personalities. They pretty much all play the same game and rarely try trick shots or interact with ball kids or fans. Watching Kenin and Baptiste and most others walk around totally expressionless. Watching Anisimova and so many other women act like the ball kids are trash, snatching the towels, acting like rude princesses. Even though my daughter and I are deeply interested in women’s tennis, the men’s game of variety, drama, trick shots, interaction with ball kids, fans, each other is so much more fun to watch. The women desperately need some players who do not just stand 4 feet behind the baseline and wait for the other player to make an error, and act like they are miserable when they play. So yeah, Nick is a treat.

Scoop no one cares about the Citi Open, it is just hype for Nick. Sascha already won back to back and no one cared then but when Nick does something it gets overvalued as far as winning a minor tournament in which the Big 3 do not even enter.

Nick is a PR genius but he is not that talented. Watch Kei Nishikori – he is the most talented player ever to not win a Slam. Watch his strokes and footspeed. I am constantly amazed by the casual tennis fan how they think hitting the ball hard is some skill. It is meaningless. Kei is also 4-0 against Nick if you think that is impressive. The reason he is 4-0 is because he is more talented.

It looks like a short skirt isn’t enough to win a title. Giorgi was creamed by Jessica Pegula who won the Citi Open final 6-2, 6-2. I don’t understand why fans are keen on Giorgi, beyond guys who think she’s cute. She is a “hit the ball as hard as you can as close to the lines as possible no matter what” type of player. And she’s never had any great results. She is No.52 in the live rankings, having gone into the tourney at No.62. At 27 years old she can’t be called an up-and-comer.

Pegula had a big jump in the rankings and is at No.55 in the live rankings. She said that she is past her injury problems, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see her be successful during the rest of the season.

Giorgi is the female Gulbis without Daddy’s money. Hits the ball great, can’t win

Re: Giorgi. She went back to that black outfit that me and Catherine hate. Had she wore the semifinal skirt outfit, she may have fared better.

I had some good news and some bad news about which players I will see at the Rogers Cup tomorrow night. The 2nd match is Kerber vs Kasatkina and I’m looking forward to that one. I’m still a Dasha fan, despite her long slump, and I’m curious to see Kerber. The first match is Sharapova vs Kontaveit. I try to avoid Sharapova’s matches even on TV, and I don’t know much about Kontaveit. I wonder if I still have the ear plugs from last fall’s Davis Cup?

I wish we could get off this men/women thing and whether women are ‘subordinate’ or not. If it wasn’t for Kyrgios I suspect we wouldn’t be on it at all.
We aren’t giving points for personality and there are plenty of players in the men’s draw who don’t scintillate with entertainment value.

Frankly, I find a lot of theatrics and prancing around just irritating and a bit of a sham. I don’t see Federer doing it, or Djokovic or Nadal or quite a few others. I agree with Jeff here – the tennis media can be pretty gullible, always were, in their search for a story, and crowds can be strange – easily swayed by clowning around. Nastase, Connors, they got up to some pretty offensive stuff that most people would’ve disapproved off privately, but both got away with it because they knew how to press the buttons and get the crowd giggling.

Poor crowds in DC for women’s final and from what I could see not a particularly good match. I don’t know why the WTA bother about Washington.

In San Jose Saba seems back to her old ways – bad serving and sulks at the handshake. New coach ? I know she’s young but Aryna needs a change in attitude. And a little more variety in her game for when bullldozing isn’t working.

Who knows what goes on in the background of these players ? Many murky stories involving money which will never see the light of day. ‘Levels of the Game’ was a different time. Those doors have closed and the lights have dimmed. No more great tennis books.

Spotted a pic of Kerber practising in Toronto wearing a top stripped of adidas logo – what can this mean ? Has she just not got her laundry sorted or is there a more sinister message ?

Rafa had some kind words about FAA:

“I like his character,” said Nadal. “He’s a very well-educated and nice guy. He’s very passionate about the sport. He’s one of the players that I would love to see at the top position and winning trophies because I think he deserves it.” (ATP site)

Scoop – that is indeed a great endorsement from Tignor, but I’m thinking of books which deal with revelations or frank close-ups of major players and I think we’ve seen the last of those.

Re clothing re-alignments – that fee for Fed is astonishing but I imagine uniqlo consider him a legend whose value will outlive his playing days. I noticed Murray has also changed brands – that was after his second hip op. And adidas let Simona go to Nike last year – they must be regretting that now 🙂 I’d be surprised if adidas cut ties with Angie, she must have been with the company her playing life, but if it’s a question of money sentiment doesn’t come into it. We’ll see when she walks on court tomorrow.

Scoop. lol. FAA is terrific, but he does have a few flaws. He gets nervous in big matches and on big points, and can make UFEs then. And they have to resolve this issue with the DFs. That is a huge hole in his game.

But I think he has a great personality for tennis. Everyone agrees he is extremely mature (and was even as a 14-year-old). As Tiafoe said, Félix may be 18 but he acts like he is 35. He has a quiet appeal that has fans rooting for him. He comes across as an extremely nice guy, someone who is ambitious, but not full of himself.

Angie hit 45 UEs errors – a topsy turvey match played very late but as so often in recent times she seemed to lose spirit as the match went on and what began as a rollover for her ended up just the opposite. What’s the solution ? She isn’t finished at 31 but there seems no pleasure in the game for her now. New coach ? Didn’t see one. She’s still with adidas.

Dasha deserved the win – she kept up the pressure and took her chances when she sensed the mental collapse across the net. Angie is depressed.

Hate to say it but I was not terribly upset Maria lost.

I was at the WTA matches tonight, thanks to the ticket I won. I even had a good seat. It’s 1:40am so I won’t say much now, except that I thoroughly enjoyed the last 2 sets of Kasatkina vs Kerber. I wasn’t keen to see Sharapova to begin with, and if I never see another of her matches it would be just fine.

So – Angie at this stage in her career has to win matches as fast as possible – that’s my coaching tip. It’s called speedtennis and is available free to all. Don’t think – do 🙂