By Stuart Miller
There is no such thing as a typical Nick Kyrgios match – after all, this is a player who told me after his second round win that he prides himself on his “unpredictability”.
Or perhaps Kyrgios’ huge 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 fourth-round win over defending champion Daniil Medvedev – a wild up-and-down affair that featured brilliant play, raquet smashing and obscenities, a surreal mental mistake and a sudden burst of poise and professionalism – is now typical Kyrgios.
He survived the first set by a fraction of a centimetre, failed to show up for much of the second set and then dominated the rest of the way, changing tactics on the fly but always coming up with the goods.
“I returned unbelievably well tonight and then was able to disrupt his rhythm behind the baseline,” Kyrgios said afterwards, noting that he had never won on Arthur Ashe court before this year and now has won twice there in one week. “In the past I’ve never felt settled in New York because I get distracted easily. But this time I’ve shown discipline and that I’m able to put head down and play.”
Kyrgios announced his presence by opening the match with a 130mph (209km/h) ace. With Medvedev, the top-ranked player, standing unusually close to the baseline, he continued blasting big serves, wrapping the game with another ace at 133mph (214km/h).
“I was standing really close at the beginning because I didn’t want to let him serve and volley,” Medvedev said afterwards. “But then I felt I was too close, so I moved back a little bit further. Still, I felt I did not return badly, and it wasn’t a bad match for me, he just didn’t miss a lot. I wish he would have missed more.”
On the first point of Medvedev’s serve, Kyrgios made a leaping swinging volley and followed it with a touch backhand volley for the point. Although he failed to win that game, he showed a willingness to adapt and take chances. Up 3-2, he earned a break point with a huge inside out backhand and grabbed the game with a lunging service return that flustered Medvedev into making a rare unforced error. (He’d make only 19 to Kyrgios’ 38 over the course of the match.) Medvedev finally backed up a few feet on Kyrgios’ serve and broke back immediately but after that Kyrgios adjusted to the new location for the rest of the set.
Kyrgios also complained to the chair umpire about starting the serve clock too soon, saying he was so sweaty that given the humidity he needed extra time to towel off. But he didn’t let it distract him and, after Kyrgios saved a break point at 5-5, the two men headed for an epic showdown in the tiebreaker.
All night, Kyrgios punished Medvedev’s second serve and early in the tiebreaker he drilled a forehand winner down the line to seize the mini-break and a 3-1 lead. But he couldn’t make it hold up and Medvedev’s improved service return got him into more rallies and after Kyrgios missed a forehand into the net to fall behind 6-5 he hurled his racket to the ground. But, of course, a 132 mph (212km/h) serve can undo a lot of mistakes and Kyrgios evened the tiebreaker. Later, he saved a set point at 6-7 and again at 7-8 with big serves. But after digging down for a backhand volley that was in by the smallest fraction of an inch imaginable, he stayed alive.
Both men were playing well but making crucial mistakes and after letting an 11-10 lead slip away on a Medvedev lob Kyrgios again smashed his racket to the ground. But all night long, Kyrgios would right the ship quickly and this time was no exception as he hit a backhand down the line and then a well disguised drop shot for a 12-11 lead before winning the set thanks to a highly unorthodox forehand slice approach shot that threw Medvedev off-balance.
“Winning that first set was the most important thing because if he had won, it would have been almost impossible for me to come back,” Kyrgios said afterwards.
It was a major moment for Kyrgios, yet it seemed to sap him of his focus. He left the court and when he came back for the second set, he seemingly left his game behind in the locker room. He lost the first seven points of the set, including two double faults, and before you could blink he was down 5-1, with Medvedev serving to even the match. But Kyrgios didn’t fold, didn’t look ahead to the third set. Instead, he settled himself down, broke and hold to make it 5-3 and fought hard even as he lost the set’s final game.
“I’m proud of the way I’ve bounced back after every tough situation,” Kyrgios said.
That strong finish gave him some semblance of stability as he started the third, but it vanished almost immediately when he took a bad tumble. He laid on his stomach in obvious pain for several moments until Medvedev walked over to check on him. Moments later, Kyrgios had a break point when he made what could have-- indeed, should have for any normal player-- made a costly mistake.
He smashed a ball into Medvedev’s body and the Russian’s shot went high in the air and was about to land harmlessly on Medvedev’s side to give Kyrgios a crucial break of serve. Inexplicably, Kyrgios ran around to the other side of court and hit the ball out of the air onto the court for what he thought was a winner, but which was actually an illegal shot that cost him the point and ultimately the game.
But, Kyrgios wasn’t flummoxed-- he laughed it off and came back in Medvedev’s next service game from 40-0 to win five straight points and take control of the set. He almost gave it back, when he lost a point at 40-0 in his next game when he failed to land an underhand serve, but again, his concentration did not waver and moments later he was clinching the third set with a nifty drop shot that Medvedev could not handle.
Medvedev, who said he started feeling ill and fatigued in the third set, credited Kyrgios with playing at “Novak and Rafa’s level. Now he has all the chances to win it”.
Now with a lead, Kyrgios played as if he were the world’s number one player, winning points with a squash slice forehand, a drop shot and a barrage of huge forehands. Even the point penalty warning for an audible obscenity was a mere speed bump as he followed it up with a 122mph (196km/h) ace that pumped up him and the crowd as he roared in exultation. And his next serve was a 131mph (210km/h) ace. There was no stopping him now.
Medvedev backed up even further on Kyrgios’ serve in this set so Kyrgios shifted to angle serves, coming to the net behind them, mostly with great success. And while Medvedev had successfully attacked Kyrgios’ backhand during long rallies early in the match (while strenuously avoiding Kyrgios’ powerful forehand), that strategy fell apart in this set as Kyrgios began confidently attacking off both wings, especially on the return of serve, earning two emphatic service breaks, the second one essentially clinching the match. Up 5-2 and 40-15, Kyrgios, who has the most wins on the men’s tour since the end of the French Open, came full circle to the start of the match, crashing down a 135mph (217km/h) ace as an exclamation point on one of the biggest wins of his career.
“I’m just trying to work hard every day and in every practice session,” Kyrgios said, admitting that in the past he might have been out every night, but now he has more focus and determination.
Kyrgios will play doubles with Thanasi Kokkinakis on Monday and then return to Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday to take on another Russian, Karen Khachanov. After Sunday’s performance (Monday AEST), Kyrgios will suddenly shift from being the underdog to the favourite, just another bit of the unpredictability of the hottest player on the men’s tour.
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