Nick Kyrgios. Future Wimbledon finalist.
If you had said that in 2014, it would be considered an astute observation and only a matter of time. It felt like a given based on his incredible run to the quarter-finals in his maiden professional Wimbledon appearance.
To have said it at the start of 2022, you would be considered a madman.
To say Nick’s run to the Wimbledon gentlemen’s singles final has been surprising is an understatement.
But to be completely and utterly unexpected may be overlooking what form and the changes that Kyrgios has made to not nearly survive in this new age of men’s tennis but thrive to the point that by Monday morning we may be looking at our first men’s Wimbledon singles winner since Lleyton Hewitt back in 2002.
By the end of 2021, Kyrgios had fallen out of the top 100 rankings for the first time in seven years, having finished the 2021 ATP tour with a 7-8 record with four of those wins coming from the Melbourne Summer Series and Australian Open.
Now, granted, he did have a six-month hiatus after the AO and did not want to expose himself to Covid. Still, after returning to Wimbledon he did play in tournaments in America in the lead-up to the US Open where his lack of play showed.
Heading into 2022, Kyrgios didn’t have the greatest of preparation leading to the Australian Open. A week out he tested positive for Covid-19 which forced him to miss the Sydney Tennis Classic.
(Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Without a doubt, this hurt his chances of making any meaningful noise in the tournament and it only got worse. The Russian second seed Daniil Medvedev was waiting in the second-round match.
While rusty given he hadn’t played in four months, he played better than most expected having a flawless performance against a hapless Liam Broady and pushing Medvedev to the limit in a four-set tussle.
However, it was his doubles play during that AO which had tongues wagging across Australia and perhaps a realisation for Nick which may have had a domino effect to where we are now.
Anyone who watched the Special Ks during the AO (pretty much any Australian with a TV) saw first-hand how much he enjoyed himself with his best mate Thanasi Kokkinakis.
This inexperienced duo, who were ranked 259 and 434, respectfully, were playing well above what their ranking suggested.
They beat talented pairings such as the World No. 1s Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the second round and third seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in the semis as they went on to claim their maiden grand slam together.
You could see them playing with no pressure knowing they had nothing to lose and no expectations regardless of the result. This was a new feeling for Nick. He looked like he was enjoying his tennis. He looked willing to put the effort in throughout the tournament.
Since he made those quarter-finals at the grass courts of the All England Club, there has always been some form of pressure on him to be playing at the pointy end of each tournament given he was considered the next big thing for Australian tennis.
Now that some of that pressure is off, you can see him play a lot more freely and play unorthodox tennis which has created a revival in his career.
In the build-up to Wimbledon, he has been playing great tennis as he makes semi-finals in Halle, Stuttgart and, Houston as well as a quarter-final in Indian Wells which sees him holding a 21-6 win-loss record and a top-40 spot in the ATP rankings.
It appears now that he is far more comfortable in his skin and has a better understanding of what he wants in his career and as a person.
Perhaps a realisation occurred for Nick after his AO doubles victory that if he puts in the consistent effort throughout a tournament like he did and plays the tennis he wants to play, then maybe the ship of Grand Slam success has not sailed off into the horizon but is simply making a detour into calmer and hopefully more successful waters for Nick Kyrgios.
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