So calm and as cheerful as he was at the awards ceremony, Nick Kyrgios could actually have been a major threat to Novak Djokovic in his first Wimbledon final. But while the Serb showed all his mental strength with increasing playing time in his fourth triumph in a row on the most famous center court in the world, the Australian got in his own way after winning the first set.
Djokovic won the trophy 4: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4 and 7: 6 for the seventh time in total, and with 21 successes in Grand Slam tournaments he is again hot on the heels of the Spaniard Rafael Nadal (22). “He’s a bit like a god,” Kyrgios later said of the winner.
And Djokovic replied: “You have shown that you are one of the best players in the world,” he said. “I respect you very much and never thought I would say so many nice things about you. Now it’s officially a bromance.”
Suddenly eaten chalk
One could almost have liked him unreservedly, this Nick Kyrgios, who had already allowed so many freaks out on the tennis courts of this world. In Wimbledon, after his victory over the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round, which was accompanied by mutual accusations, he showed himself from a completely different side.
The wolf had suddenly eaten chalk, was well behaved and if you put all his bad habits aside you can see what a great tennis player the Aussie can be, or rather could be.
Kyrgios himself is the problem
Many would have believed he could win over Rafael Nadal, who had to pass through injury, in the semi-finals, because with his serve strength, his playfulness, his knack for spectacular rallies and his technical skills, he is made for the grass game. In sports, however, many things are also decided in the head, and this is particularly true in tennis when the player has to fight against himself and the annoying self-doubt, against the anger about devious balls and missed opportunities all by himself.
The great tennis players, and Novak Djokovic is certainly one of them, can do this, they find ways out of difficult situations. Nick Kyrgios didn’t find that solution in the first Grand Slam final of his career, which suggests he isn’t, and maybe won’t be, a huge tennis player – he was the problem himself.
Kyrgios insults his box
Kyrgios and Djokovic had met twice in their tennis careers – and the Australian had won both games. And with this self-image he had also started this final. Kyrgios managed the early break to make it 3: 2, and he then brought the first set home with great concentration, cheering himself on after particularly spectacular rallies. The “bad boy” seemed to have stayed in the dressing room and not been able to further disrupt the big day. Kyrgios grabbed the first set 6-4.
But the little devil is always sitting on the Australian’s shoulder and seems to be constantly whispering something in his ear. And with the first break, which Djokovic managed to make it 2-1 in the second round, this little devil also made himself heard. Kyrgios started talking to himself intensively when changing sides, but soon switched to wild insults at his box – the Australian doesn’t have a permanent trainer.
What was happening on the other side of the square must have been music to Djokovic’s ears, the epitome of mental strength, who immediately senses even the smallest uncertainties in the opponent like a very finely tuned seismograph. The emotional state of the cursing Kyrgios, however, could not have remained hidden even from less sensitive contemporaries.
The scent of victory
Djokovic equalized to make it 6-3 in the second half, which further incited Kyrgios to be unhappy with everything around him. Djokovic is already difficult to defeat anyway, especially on this lawn – and not at all like that. The Serb also took the third set 6-4, so what’s to stop him on the way to his seventh Wimbledon title and fourth straight triumph?
One would have come to mind immediately, the Kyrgios from the first sentence, and it was suddenly there again. The Australian stopped his constant insults, and in the breaks when changing sides only spoke to himself or to a conversation partner next to him who was only recognizable to him. He played better again, but champions like Djokovic rarely let you out of an embrace when they can already smell the scent of victory.
It went into the tie-break and just when he needed all his concentration, Kyrgios started with a double fault which saw him fall back into the old pattern. Kyrgios scolded, Djokovic scored, earned five match points and used the third to win his 28th consecutive tournament. That seemed like a salvation even to his opponent – he smiled in congratulations. A bizarre spectacle, this finale.
