DUBAI // Plain and simple, Nick Kyrgios is the real deal.
Do not be fooled by his unorthodox behaviour, dismissive personality, and crowd-pleasing trick shots. It all may serve to make Kyrgios an intriguing character to the tennis public, but beneath all of that is a player of enormous potential making great strides towards fulfilling a talent not seen in a generation.
In typical Kyrgios style, his progress has not been quiet and unassuming. Like his brand of tennis, it has been loud, brash, and jaw-dropping impressive. The Australian world No 33 won his first ATP title last week in Marseille, beating world No 10 Richard Gasquet, Tomas Berdych, who was again his victim Thursday, and 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic en route, all without dropping a single service game.
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His rise continues apace at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships this week, and if there were any lingering doubts around Kyrgios’s ability to consistently mix it with the elite, they were ruthlessly banished Thursday afternoon.
Berdych, the world No 8 and a two-time finalist in Dubai, is as imposing an opponent as they come. The 30-year-old Czech possesses a dangerous serve and a near flawless baseline game, but he was dismantled by Kyrgios in less than 90 minutes.
Indeed both players boast very similar weapons, and it was clear they had mapped out similar game plans Thursday. Yet not only did Kyrgios execute better, his armoury was simply stronger, his serve sharper, his groundstrokes carried more purpose, his shot variation more effective. It allowed the Australian to command the match.
His ability to generate power on his forehand is astounding, and it does not come at the expense of accuracy. Time and again, Berdych’s second serve was met with crunching deep returns that immediately put Kyrgios in the driving seat, and while there were only two breaks of serve all match, Berdych always looked vulnerable on his.
Kyrgios, on the other hand, was impenetrable. Aside from his opening service game when he faced four break points, he did not face another for the rest of the match. Frighteningly, this is Kyrgios at 20 years old. Imagine just how much better he can get.
“I knew from the start that I was going to be in control,” Kyrgios said. “The way I have been serving, the way I have been returning, I knew I was going to get chances. I thought I competed well.
“For me to go out there and put in a great performance like that, I just took my chances when they came. The conditions were really fast. When one of us got a pretty good strike, the point was pretty much over.”
To make the performance even more impressive, Kyrgios said he “wasn’t in the greatest shape”.
“I think I got a bit of food poisoning last night,” he said. “I was really surprised with the performance, to go out there and beat a quality player and in tough conditions. It’s probably my favourite win over the last couple of weeks.”
In a post Big Four world, tennis will one day need a new superstar to carry the sport into a new era, and Kyrgios, whether he likes it or not, is primed to take the mantle.
“I think he can,” Berdych said when asked if he thought Kyrgios could win a grand slam title. “I think with him it’s going to be a matter of keeping himself fit and ready for the amount of work you have to do through the year and the years after.
“That’s the only thing, but definitely this generation is quite strong, and that’s finally after so many years. It’s been very calm but now there are some new faces coming up.”
Kyrgios faces another step up in class on Friday when he faces world No 4 and two-time grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka in the semi-final. Two weeks ago, victory may have seemed beyond Kyrgios; nothing seems beyond him anymore.
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