Well, that is an exciting twist.
Mere minutes before box office superstars Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis overwhelmed the tournament third seeds Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers on a heaving Rod Laver Arena they were beaten into the men’s doubles finals by another Aussie pair.
The contrast between occasions couldn’t have been starker as Matt Ebden and Max Purcell stunned the second seed pair of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in front of a sea of empty blue seats in a silent Margaret Court Arena.
Saturday’s meeting will be the first all-Australian men’s doubles final at the AO since 1980, and throws up an intriguing battle and perhaps a tweak of the AO crowd’s goto refrain – “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi oi, oi.”.
Will the maligned ‘cucumber sandwich set’ – the more traditional tennis fans who prefer polite applause to raucous and relentless barracking – throw their refined support behind Ebden and Purcell, and will the youngsters who have embraced the Special Ks find their enthusiasm to heckle stifled?
Kyrgios is certainly getting excited, trying to spark the same in the post-match press conference, telling reporters: “It’s amazing, we’ve got four Aussies in the finals. Can we up the energy a little bit? It’s f—ing awesome. Can we have some hype questions?”
However it unfolds it should be an exciting occasion, and perhaps playing against fellow Australians will help keep Kyrgios in check.
Described by quarterfinal opponent Michael Venus as an “absolute knob” after their wild match up, the high spirited Aussie wound down his knobometer on Thursday – exploding briefly in the second set.
He was upset at shouts from the stands and the let machine and smashed a racquet. A few choice F bombs were let through to the keeper by the ump, and Kyrgios recovered his calm as the pair stomped out a 7-6, 6-4 win.
Nearby Purcell and Ebden won their first set and hung tough in a second set tie breaker, winning it 11-9.
“It’s all about the crowd, the atmosphere, that gets us going and we worry about the tennis second,” Kokkinakis said afterwards.
“It brings the best out of us and I don’t know if we would have got this result anywhere else.
“I think both of us bring something different, different energy, different sort of charisma on the court, but we just enjoy it and have fun.”
Legendary Rod Laver watched on from the front row, near to former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh, a master of mind games and mental disintegration.
But Kyrgios wasn’t in a mood to talk down his final rivals.
“Those two are great doubles players and we’re not going to take them lightly,” Kyrgios said.
He said he didn’t want to carry on a feud with Venus either, although couldn’t resist a dig.
“I’m not going to destroy him (Venus) in this media conference right now, but Granollers and Zeballos are great players and I respect them a lot more than I respect Michael Venus,” he said.
“Zeballos took a selfie with us before we walked out, that’s how you embrace an atmosphere – not losing a match and getting salty about it afterwards.”
Kyrgios believed his combination with friend Kokkinakis was helping bring out his best.
“I think I’ve played pretty good tennis in the past,” Kyrgios said. “I’ve beaten pretty much every player that’s picked up a racquet.
“I’ve obviously had to play a certain level of tennis. It’s not like I’m going out there putting on a clown suit and creating a circus.
“I have also won big titles, and played the traditional way. “I think now I’m able to channel a different fanbase.”
The decider is set to take place on Saturday night, after the women’s final, and Kokkinakis wants Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley to do his best to ensure the stadium is at capacity.
“Craig might not be happy with this — but if that means dropping prices so we can fill the stands, whatever will get it packed,” he said.
“The more the better, the atmosphere would be unreal.”
Meanwhile new Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott, an eight time winner, lost his quad singles final 7-5, 6-0 to Sam Schröder of the Netherlands in his last match before retiring.
He then delivered an absolute show stopper of a speech to rapturous applause and plenty of tears.
“It’s because of you all watching today that people like me get, not recognition, but are more integrated in society,” Alcott said.
“To my community thanks for always backing me I hope to make you proud over the next 12 years – I mean months! Thank you to every single person for changing my life, I appreciate it so much.
“I’m really the luckiest guy in the world, and I didn’t need to win today to realise that. It would have been nice to win, to be honest, but I’m still the luckiest person in this country, if not the luckiest person in the world.
“If you look up along the middle ring and see how many people with disability are here, right, that’s the reason I get out of bed.”
(With AAP)
BennO
Roar Rookie
Am I allowed to comment on these stories if I’m not a fan of Kyrgios’s antics? . Seems I am now. Also seems the new editor doesn’t take kindly to criticism of the roar’s descent into cl1ck b@it style. . In any case, I think this might be the first time since 2009 that I agree with sheek!
Paulo
Roar Rookie
I do recall Hadlee saying he loved hearing it as he knew he must have been doing something right lol
sheek
Roar Guru
So mods, Paulo can write wanker & it's okay. You vet me & return my post with w----r. Are you discriminating against me? I certainly think so.....
sheek
Roar Guru
Paulo, I clearly remember 'Hadlee's a w---er'. Actually, it was a back-handed compliment to a great fast bowler, said more out of irreverence than disrespect. Hadlee could see the humour in it & often smiled when the chant went up. The crowd, seeing him smiling, chanted even louder, laughing as they sang. It was mostly good fun, given & taken in a good spirit. I wouldn't call anything Kyrgios says & does on a tennis court as being in a good spirit. He has no respect for his opponents, or even his equally mindless fans, it seems. It seems to me, especially in the media, who should know better you think, that folk have completely lost sight of what good, clean fun actually is. It's not Kygrios.
sheek
Roar Guru
JJ, Never watched Happy Gilmore. It's partly about golf, isn't it, a good walk ruined. :laughing:
JOHN ALLAN
Guest
Two questions. Is Kyrgios a “box office superstar” or Tennis’ answer to that lovable character, David Warner? Ash & Dylan make me proud to be an Aussie. Kyrgios is a sad demented individual possessing talent which is wasted on him.
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
YES! What songs should the crowd rip into? Gotta be something Aussie of course. Here's my suggestions: TNT - Acca Dacca ("TNT...Oi! Oi! Oi!") I'm An Individual - Jacko Shaddup You Face - Joe Dulce Moaner - Craig McLachlan and Check 1-2 Take The Pressure Down - John Farnham feat. Bargearse And anything by Bec Hewitt of course. There's hundreds more. What do The Roarers wanna hear?
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
True the only frustrating thing is he’s clearly a gifted tennis player it’s how they were able to breeze through the best doubles pairings in the world.
Paulo
Roar Rookie
“Now we can look forward to maybe 20 years of uncouth Aussie crowds disrespecting everyone.” To be fair, there are heaps of crowds in heaps of sports who do that. If NK isn’t here stoking the fires, the tennis crowds will result back to type. I also remember a constant chorus of “Hadlees a wanker” back in the day, and I’m sure you’ll can remember some pretty poor kiwi crowds too. It’s a symptom of human nature and mob mentality sadly.
Paulo
Roar Rookie
Having Thanasi there with him is a huge factor too. He has always done better in team based set ups, like Davis cup. When he is on his own his care factor drops too much.
JJ
Guest
Yeah but its entertaining ... tennis, overall is a dull sport. I would've watched prob half a dozen doubles matches in my life prior to this ... Davis cup and the Woodies ... yeah it's off at time but it's fun dude aka Johnny Mc. And Sheek I bet you loved Happy Gilmore m, just sayin brah.
Lara
Guest
Glad another Oz pair made the final….take your pick. NK might not like to share. Always liked M n Ms , flakes are not my thing.
con
this bloke will be still complaining when they win the final
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
Yeah hopefully. He’s a work in progress. But I think the success he has experienced here will encourage him to hold himself to higher standards given that he has only ever really experienced middling success in the singles game. The other thing I would point out is man there is a huge gap between the ability of singles players and doubles players.
Gary
Roar Rookie
Yeah, i was thinking perhaps he feels a bit more responsible in how he plays with a doubles partner/team mate. And, hopefully, doubles success at the AO might inspire him to focus, be more mature, in his singles game... but, admittedly, i am yet to see much to inspire confidence he has it in him. An all Australian dbls final... the crowd will be interesting. I have always loathed the 'ozzie ozzie ozzie oi oi oi' chant... the laziest, and cringiest, crowd participation you could ever witness. Sing a song ffs.
Gray-Hand
Roar Rookie
Good to finally gave you on the Bandwagon sheek!
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
See I actually reckon Nick Kyrgios has managed to pull his head in somewhat. He also benefits from the shorter format of doubles and I can’t help but wonder if this will improve his singles game
Curmudgeon1961
Roar Rookie
Turned up the knob. There fixed it Tony. ????
sheek
Roar Guru
So the village idiot gets another opportunity to show the youth of Australia how to disrespect everyone, not just the opposition & umps & also exercise hypocrisy (hey ump, tell those people to stop cheering when I'm serving). Really? The prime knob has a fantastic cheer squad among the media including premier knob Karl Stevonic, ex-players & commentators Sam Groth & Todd Woodbridge (Kygrios' complaint to the umpire about the crowd yelling was a "bit" hypocritical, he says), & it seems, Tony Harper. Now we can look forward to maybe 20 years of uncouth Aussie crowds disrespecting everyone. All for the sake of "entertainment". The media love-in crowd says entertainment is good, like greed is good also.