by the envoy to Wimbledon. A “bromance”, Nick Kyrgios recently called it. “I don’t know if it’s a ‘bromance’, not yet, but I was pleased by your words in Australia.” And then the crossing at the training ground again, on Saturday. “Hey, it took you 5 years to say something nice about me” – “Yes, but I said it when I needed it most” – “I know, I know. And I appreciate it.” Finally, the last one a few hours ago: “So, are we friends now?” – “Only if you invite me to dinner” – “Okay, whoever wins tomorrow pays”.Almost friendsis the new definition of Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios, finalists of the 2022 edition of men’s singles at Wimbledon. A bit like that French film about ten years ago. A tale of two frankly awkward people at opposites of worlds and ways of doing things. Two men who look inside and realize that they are not that far away after all. The plot twist, the plot change, the story changing event of the narrative, in the beginning of the year facts involving Djokovic in Australia.
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Tomorrow they will cross paths again on a tennis court for the first time in 5 years. The cause of his life, that of the reborn Kyrgios. The chance to shorten to Nadal, that of Nole. A title with enormous specific weight goes without saying for both of them.
The weight of Kyrgios: the chance of life
On the one hand, Nick Kyrgios actually seems to have reached a kind of unexpected maturity, if only in this month of the season on the pitch. At 27 and after a career full of tantrums, the Aussie seems to have learned to manage himself. Better late than never, some will say. But it is precisely in Djokovic’s words, more than in those of the person concerned, that details of this second part of Kyrgios’ career are hidden. “The other day I saw him in the dressing room weighing himself on his own scale. It made me smile and at a certain point I appreciate it because it’s my exact same approach to things.” And so we find that Kyrgios, at 27, not only can’t be stopped in the village pubs at 4 a.m. in the morning before a match with Nadal, but has also become a kind of detail freak. “It helped me to win the double with Thanasi (Kokkimakis ed) in Australia. That’s when I understood that the day off is important in his slam weeks, that you have to rest, that you have to take care of your body”.
This is the Kyrgios who somehow managed to push his way to an unexpected final and, in some ways, unexpected at this point in his career. With tantrums with Paul Jubb ruled out from the first round – the publicity cue and the £10,000 penalty – Kyrgios was able to hold his ground quite fluidly in the field as well. Tsitsipas may not agree too much with this statement, but it is not wrong to interpret this Kyrgios as a kind of “new Kyrgios”, if only to merely confirm his findings. The Australian had never progressed beyond the Slam quarterfinals in his career, only playing twice as a “kid”: Wimbledon 2014 and Australian Open 2015. This path was certainly also helped by the various defeats of Berrettini and Nadal – above all – as well as Bautista -Agood in the possible theoretical development of his scoreboard, he embodied the epiphany of a tennis player that hardly anyone had reckoned with at this level.
Nick Kyrgios at the Wimbledon 2022 training ground
Photo credit Getty Images
Djokovic’s weight: zero margin of error to understand 2022
On the other hand, of course, Kyrgios now has to face Novak Djokovic, whose approach to this tournament is a kind of “all-in” for the tennis season. In fact, the Australian events not only deprived Nole of its prime hunting ground – Melbourne Park – but also left a lot of waste during the red season. Djokovic struggled to get into his true form, which – perhaps – can only be seen in his success at the Internationals. At Wimbledon – and with no games in his legs on the grass – he has therefore embarked on the path necessary to understand his complicated 2022. We certainly won’t see him in the United States unless there is an unlikely rethink by the American government – as well as Canada’s on the vaccination issue.
And that’s why Djokovic’s season as the current No. 10 in the race depends heavily on this tournament. If he wins, he shortens Nadal to -1 in advance of the Mallorcan’s 22 Slam titles and gives himself a chance also with regard to the ATP Finals in Turinwhere is it be invited as a slam winnereven if it can’t climb the leaderboard (This is assuming that another player does not win the US Open and places in front of him in the standings, occupying a position between 8 and 20 of the race, informs ATP’s Nicola Arzani). Secondly, because Djokovic would be essentially unemployed until the Laver Cup in September and the subsequent indoor season precisely because of the impossibility of traveling to North America. Translation? On the pitch, Djokovic faces Kyrgios in the final with all the pressure in the world on his shoulders. Pressure that the Serb somehow made perceived as unmanageable, even in his way. The bad starts with Sinner and Norrie, the first-round losing set debuts with Kwon; also the game in the first two sets with van Rijthoven not very clean. Djokovic playing with a gorilla on his back seems obvious. And it may not help to challenge an opponent who has never been beaten in his career. Because if it’s true that both of 2017’s matches came at a not-so-easy moment in Djokovic’s career, challenging a player Nole has lost 4 sets out of 4 with is a little thoughtful, after all it may be worth it for you too are Novak Djokovic. He will also find a type of technical threat that the Serb hasn’t faced in a while: a giant minion who will try to add very little pace to the game. From here, therefore, Nole must go through the point “Super Answers”, a chapter that has always been interpreted in an extraordinary way throughout his career anyway.
Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon 2022
Photo credit Getty Images
Emotion will probably do the rest. And that point doesn’t play in the Australian’s favour. He recently explained that he “slept an hour last night” and “I can’t wait to play, I wish it was the final now”. It remains to be seen how much this waiting will have consumed the student Kyrgios before the great exam. Unknown concepts for Professor Djokovic, who is now a luminary in the field with his 32 appearances in the Slam final – an all-time record for men. In short, the ingredients really all seem to be there: the opportunity, the sporting rivalry, a kind of friendship that has suddenly blossomed. At this point, in camp, the only task is to provide us with the most important ingredient: the show.
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