- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
| Match: Not Started |
|---|
| N. Kyrgios (AUS) |
| M. Raonic (CAN) [16] |
Show Preview
Nick Kyrgios and
The Australian Kyrgios has been in and out of the press again to start the Aussie summer, but the bottom line is that his tennis hasn’t yet been good enough to suggest he is capable of matching his run to the fourth round here last year.
Even so, this is a battle of the big-servers, and if there’s one part of game which Kyrgios can get firing in a hurry, it’s the serve.
He has potentially the smoothest service motion in the men’s game today, and he is a very hard man to break. Raonic is a similar type of player though, and so it’s easy to see that, barring some off times and a lack of concentration, we could go tiebreak for tiebreak in this match.
Kyrgios began his season in Brisbane and after being bundled out in the second round of the tournament, finds himself outside the top 50 in the world now.
The Australian has had a tough 12 months, and his lead-up form doesn’t make anyone confident, but this is the sort of match that could suit him, against a big-name player on a big court.
Raonic, on the other hand, played in Brisbane as well and went to the quarter-finals.
The world No.16 came away with a pair of impressive wins in the first two rounds, including a straight-set beatdown of Alijaz Bedene, before he was beaten in the quarter-finals.
While it wasn’t a poor performance, Raonic hasn’t lived up to his usual high standards in the last six months either, so this is a big tournament starting with a huge match for him to try and turn things around.
The pair have played six previous matches, splitting the ledger at three all with Kyrgios winning the last of those at Wimbledon in 2016. They have played just one match on the hard court though, with Kyrgios winning in straight sets in Miami in 2016.
Prediction
Hard to see this match going anywhere other than a number of tiebreakers. For that reason, it’s good luck picking a winner, but I reckon the poise of Raonic will get the job done.
Raonic in five sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this battle of the big servers in the first round at the Australian Open from around 7:30pm (AEDT) or at the completion of Samantha Stosur and Dayana Yastrmeska and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.
Hide Preview