Those who read my column in the Wimbledon preview saw that I mentioned it in general every Grand Slam tournament comes with its surprises and uncertainties. We talked about emotions, expectations, disappointments … Of everything that normally occurs in a tournament of this magnitude and we said that this traditional tournament was no exception.
Entering the men’s team in the final stretch, we find opposite worlds but similar recent paths. Both Novak Djokovic and the surprising Nick Kyrgios present their particularities and also their coincidences. To start, neither comes from having a great year.
The vicissitudes that the Serbian went through in this 2022 are already known. Wimbledon is only the seventh tournament of a troubled season, in which he reached two finals – he won in Rome and lost in Belgrade – and in which he did not pass the quarter-finals. final at Roland Garros, where he lost in four sets to Rafael Nadal. Beyond those difficulties, when it comes to the Grand Slam and when Wimbledon is the stop, there was no doubt freight was on the list of strong candidates. Here because unsurprisingly Djokovic says present again and responds again in the way he and everyone expected.
Product of the typical surprises of Grand Slam tournaments, on the other side of the net will be Kyrgios, who also had a very bad year and that, above all, he had no greater powers. Look at the peculiarity: the Australian, to set a date and make it more representative, played only four tournaments up to Roland Garros: Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami and Houston.
From there Kyrgios practically missed a good part of the professional circuit, but the curious thing is that before Wimbledon he played everything. He was in Stuttgart – making the semifinal against Andy Murray -, and went to Halle – other semifinals against the Polish Hurkacz -. Then, he soon lost in Mallorca. However, in that second round defeat it seemed his mind was focused on this great tournament and that preparation.
In this sense, in fact, the results obtained in London are well founded. First of all because its essence, its characteristics and its desires flow in a much more harmonious way on the pitch. And with Kyrgios talking about harmony is really challenging. But in this kind of chaos, the floor allows him, at least to him, to have some control over what from the outside seems unmanageable, with an unpredictable game, with an explosive tennis, sometimes advanced and in other cases irregular. .
That preparation for Wimbledon allowed him to give himself a nice surprise, a surprise and I would also encourage myself to say leave the worry to many who have started to think, even more so after Nadal’s withdrawal in the semifinals: “See if Kyrgios wins Wimbledon!”
He deserves it? Is it good for tennis?
What matters here is what can happen in that grand finale. In handling the pressure, we know that Djokovic already has a postgraduate degree and that he no longer has to take exams.. Either way, he knows he always has to rise to the occasion. If anything happened to the Serbian, that’s it he has had very few bad Sundays. In general, and sarcastically, she often described him as an excellent Sunday tennis player because on Sunday it is very difficult to beat himAlmost impossible on many occasions.
But on the other hand It will be very interesting to find out how Kyrgios will handle these pressure problems.. Because it’s one thing to go on a less transcendental ride and give freedom to the emotions and even the madness we’re already used to. Now, how will you cope with seeing that you only need one match to win a Grand Slam title and nothing more and nothing less than Wimbledon, the history of tennis in the Cathedral of Tennis? Winning in All England means entering the deep history of tennis.
There is another fact. In the story between these two players, the two times they met – in 2017 -, the two victories went to Kyrgios. And in consecutive series. I mean, Djokovic left empty-handed on sets. Is it a trend? Score something? Well, it marks that Kyrgios does not feel so uncomfortable in front of Djokovic, even if in this meeting everything is absolutely different. Familiar for one, unexpected for another.
But, as we have said several times, The Kyrgios rebellion has its foundations and will now have a very heated debate. The other days he stated that for Kyrgios it was sometimes more of a motivation to ruin dreams than to win big titles.
But now that he’s one step away from reigning in the Cathedral, Kyrgios doesn’t want to commit a cardinal sin and come empty-handed.
Javier Frana
Source: Clarin
