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It took 214 minutes for Nick Kyrgios to turn a two-set deficit into a spine-tingling five-set success over Roger Federer’s conqueror Andreas Seppi at the Australian Open on Sunday night.
The 19-year-old Australian, and his fast growing band of fans, will long remember the 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 8-6 victory that has set up a quarter-final clash with Andy Murray.
But the excitement machine gave notice of what he’s capable of at his first Wimbledon appearance last year, coming from two sets down to quality Frenchman Richard Gasquet to win their second round clash 3-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 10-8.
And two rounds later blasting world number one Rafael Nadal off centre court 7-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-3. That was simply magnificent.
Last night, even the most ardent Kyrgios fan would have been prepared to wave the white flag when he blew six break points in the first two lost sets, with his serving and powerhouse ground astray off both wings.
We should have had more faith.
Bit by bit Kyrgios fought his way back into contention, and while Seppi wasn’t off the boil, Kyrgios started regaining his confidence and power.
And the packed Hitense Arena of 10,500 went with him, with many more thousands in long queues outside trying to get a guernsey. They collectively raised the roof their support was so vocal, led by the ever-present Fanatics.
In the end, Kyrgios blasted 25 aces to 23, Seppi struck 71 winners to 66, both players made 74 unforced errors, and Kyrgios won 184 points overall to 181.
Not much to separate in those stats, but in the final three sets, Kyrgios won the vital points.
But never underestimate the value of break point conversions. In the five sets, Kyrgios converted three out of nine, that translates to three out of three in the last three sets. Seppi converted one of three in the same period.
Can Kyrgios go any further? Of course he can. There’s no limit to how far he can go, in any tournament.
As master coach Nick Bollettieri predicted, Kyrgios’ future will be governed by what’s between his ears. Far too many times on Sunday night Kyrgios took the hard and low percentage option, with the court wide open.
Many of them were drop shots that just weren’t on. A waste.
That’s youthful exuberance, but once he overcomes the obvious, Nick Kyrgios can be the leading light of an Australian renaissance with the likes of Thanasi Kokkinakis, Sam Groth, James Duckworth and Luke Saville, with Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Rafter their mentors.
I would like to include Bernard Tomic in that group, but one never knows which Tomic will turn up to play. The lacklustre and disinterested Tomic turned up to play Tomas Berdych on Sunday to disappear without trace 6-2, 7-6, 6-2 in two hours.
Tomic has a serve as dangerous as Berdych, but the Czech served 17 aces to six, and struck 52 winners to 27 because Tomic kept guiding the ball to land mid-court on the service line, giving Berdych far too many easy options.
One of Tomic’s strengths is his stroke-play power from the baseline, down the line and across court, but that major plus went missing as well.
Hopefully the real Bernard Tomic will appear on a regular basis.
But the jury is out, and Tomic didn’t do anything to make the jury come out from behind their closed door with a positive decision.