Nick Kyrgios reached his first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon but was unable to stop Novak Djokovic in the last act of the Championships. The Aussie played a perfect first set on serve and broke his opponent in game five by capitalizing on a painful double fault.
It was two failed passes that punished Kyrgios in the following fractions of the game. The Canberra native lost serve from him in the fourth game of the second set and jettisoned a service turn that seemed over (he was ahead 40-0) at 4-4 in the third set.
In the match-ending tie-break, Djokovic brought out all of his experience and allowed the Australian no chance. Toni Nadal expressed his opinion on Kyrgios’ style of play in an editorial published in the newspaper El Pais.
“The Australian’s lack of consistency, especially in staying aggressive, highlighted the main problem with his game in my opinion. He has a bad habit of hitting too many balls haphazardly, hardly paying attention and in a bad position.
In today’s tennis, because of the speed at which the ball goes, there is no choice but to find a good position, have good control”, explained the Spanish coach. “The great players (Federer, Djokovic, Rafael Nadal) time their shots well, look for a good position and from there they try to hit well and increase their chances of winning.
Kyrgios’ messy tennis is a handicap. It is very difficult for him to get the continuity that is needed to score points. Tennis is a repetition sport rather than a show sport. We see him, on too many occasions, hit a backhand without adjusting his strides well and a forehand in which he does not make the slightest effort to bend his knees and force his legs.”
Andy Roddick talks about Rafael Nadal
Former World No. 1 Andy Roddick recently stated on a podcast that Rafael Nadal’s current level of success is “crazy.” “I don’t know how to predict that, I don’t know how to predict health,” Roddick said.
“I was one of the guys who said there’s no way Rafa can play as hard and as physical as he does and last past 30. So dummy me he’s still winning slams this year he’s at 22 now. It’s certainly weird when real life kind of infringes on our little tennis bubble,” Roddick said.
“You know it’s crazy what Rafa’s doing right now with maybe like one foot and and you know limping to 14 Roland Garros titles just it’s just crazy.”
