Australian Open: Nick Kyrgios the perfect player to beat Rafael Nadal

If you created a computer-generated athlete who had the tools to overwhelm him, you would come up with a Nick Kyrgios.

Nick Kyrgios grabs his derriere during the marathon win over Karen Khachanov. Picture: Getty Images

Nick Kyrgios. What a monumental pain in the arse: we’re talking about the injury, of course, afflicting him on Saturday night like the universe was delivering a cackling sort of karma.

Kyrgios had attracted cheap and easy laughs by mocking Rafael Nadal’s habit of touching his backside, and now he was reaching for his own derrière like he had ripped a muscle or tendon or whatever else was responsible for the suddenly problematic posterior.

The message from the universe was this: if you wanted a real reason to grab your buttocks, here’s one. All jokes aside.

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And there we were at Melbourne Arena, blood mopped up from a pre-match punch-up in the stands, another harrowing defeat on the cards for Kyrgios, another excuse at the ready, another reason he could blame a defeat, this time to Karen Khachanov, a Boy Named Sue, on a factor beyond his control.

Poor me, he would say. I was hurt. Bum injury. Hurt my hindquarter. Might have torn my tush? Grade-three gluteus Maximus.

And on top of that, he would say, the clowns in my supporters box would not stand at the right time. And they would not sit at the right time. And they would not scratch their noses at the right time. And they would not clap at the right time. And they would not shut up at the right time. And they would not look at me at the right time. And they would not look away at the right time. And they would not say the exact right words at the exact right times. So what was I to do?

It would be another painful departure. Monumentally so.

But then. But then. But then. He beat Khachanov 10-8 in the fifth-set penalty shootout. How good are supertiebreakers? And the grudge match between Kyrgios and Nadal was on.

It was a lion-hearted triumph. Tough. Brilliant. The greatest of his career. The tennis was exceptional.

Proper grudge matches are few and far between, especially since Roger Federer had to admit that Novak Djokovic was actually quite good, but here’s a good old-fashioned stink.

When they met at Wimbledon, Kyrgios tried to hit Nadal on the body with a 150km/h forehand. Such things would not have been forgotten.

Nadal on Kyrgios ‘It’s clear, of course, that when he does stuff that in my opinion is not good, I don’t like’

The personality clash: Kyrgios dislikes Nadal’s ultra-competitiveness, the super-salty approach to matches. Flying by the seat of his pants, all instinct, Nadal’s carefully orchestrated routines drive him spare.

It’s all he can do to avoid shouting, hurry up, would ya. Nadal believes Kyrgios does a great disservice to the sport when he behaves like a foul-mouthed village idiot.

But here’s the really interesting bit. If you tried to invent a brand of player to beat Nadal, if you cherrypicked attributes in personality and playing style that could blow him off Rod Laver Arena, if you created a computer-generated athlete who had the tools to overwhelm him, you would come up with a Kyrgios.

His strengths go directly to Nadal’s weaknesses. Let us count the ways.

• The serve. It’s not just the 220km/h-plus heat that troubles Nadal. It’s the shape. Kyrgios’s best and most reliable serve is the slice. It swings right to left like Pat Cummins with a new ball on an overcast day.

He has to temper it against right-handers. It goes to their forehands, normally their strengths.

But Kyrgios’s bread-and-butter delivery goes out to Nadal’s two-handed backhand, which is vastly inferior to his forehand on service returns. To the deuce side of the court, it pulls Nadal a long way out of position.

If Nadal is forced to abandon the two-hand topspin return and stab at one-handers, Kyrgios has him licked. Even better, he has the booming straight serve down the T to keep Nadal guessing.

• The forehand: Again, you need to hammer Nadal’s backhand from the ground, but it isn’t as easy as it sounds. He runs around it at every opportunity. Nadal’s basic game plan is to serve well, hunt forehands. Most players hit forehands. He hunts them. Chases them. Eats them.

Kyrgios’s most consistent forehand is the heavily top spun, hooked crosscourt variety. There’s so much whip on it, so much wrist-snap, that he’s one of the few players who can get enough angle to ensure Nadal has to hit backhands.

This is how Djokovic gets the better of Nadal, pulling him wide to the backhand side with slice serves and crosscourt forehands, waiting for a relatively soft, short reply, and then clubbing a flat winner to Nadal’s left, the open court.

• The backhand: Kyrgios has to avoid, at all costs, crosscourt rallies that go from his two-hand backhand to Nadal’s forehand. The most thunderous forehand in the history of the sport. Nadal can murder anyone, including Kyrgios, if he gets to unload on forehands all night.

Djokovic’s most penetrating backhand against Nadal is the one where he pulls the trigger on a flat down-the-line winner. Kyrgios has this shot. The backswing is short. It’s difficult to read. He can fall back on his safer option, crosscourt backhands that will go straight to Nadal’s forehand.

Anything short on his own backhand, Kyrgios needs to thread the needle down the line and get to the net behind it. Added bonus: Nadal’s sliced left-handed serve goes to Kyrgios’ backhand, which is his better returning side.

• Drop shot: Kyrgios will do drop-shot serves. Traditionalists will gasp, babies will cry, wolves will howl. It will bring the house down — the hide of the bloke — and it will make Nadal’s blood boil.

It’s completely fair game. A server has the right to stand on his head if he wants to. He can serve in any way he wishes. Nadal stands so far back to return that he cannot expect anything less. He’s trying to trump the server; why should the server not try to trump him. Controversial play, but fair play.

Playing shots during points is the real bonus, though. Kyrgios has revolutionised the use of the drop shot. It’s always been considered a lame stroke. A bail out. When you’re exhausted, or when you’re choking, or when you’re being overpowered, you hit a timid and defeatist drop shot. It hasn’t been considered a real shot, but Kyrgios has turned it into an attacking weapon. He plays as many as three or four a game.

Kyrgios’s are brilliantly disguised, especially off the forehand. They drag baseline huggers to the net, if that’s where he wants them. They let him get to the net, if that’s where he wants to be. They keep rallies short, which is what he needs.

With Nadal a mile behind the baseline throughout his 19-slam career, a soft-handed, reliable drop shot has always seemed a way to break his rhythm. Here it is.

• Attitude: Kyrgios has talked the talk about Nadal. Can he walk the walk? Nadal’s opinions about Kyrgios have been fair and reasonable. He has always said that when Kyrgios is playing in the right way, with passion and intent, and without the monumental pain-in-the-arse, spoilt-brat tantrums, there is a lot to applaud.

Kyrgios is more personal about Nadal. If he thinks the Spaniard has been super-salty in the past, wait for Monday night. There may never have been a game face like it. From the moment Nadal arrives, he will be a study of fierce and obsessive concentration. We’re about to see if Nadal is used to being the dominant figure on a court, but he doesn’t get to be against the more charismatic Kyrgios.

The by-play between points will be constant.

Kyrgios will try to rush Nadal. He will be ready to serve before Nadal is ready to receive. He will be in position to return while Nadal is still touching his ears, nose, derrière. He will stand there as if to say, what’s taking so long?

This is just a longwinded way to say that to beat Nadal, you need a monster crosscourt topspin forehand, a lightning slice serve, a flat-down-the-line backhand, a gorgeous drop shot, a drop shot serve if you’re crazy enough to use it, a showtime mentality, athleticism and enough physical presence to get under Nadal’s skin. Which Kyrgios has.

You also need hardcore physical fitness and unwavering mental toughness against an opponent who is trying to do you slowly. How knackered is Kyrgios in brain and body? At his best, his chances are monumental. But welcome to the majors. He’s not even halfway to the final yet. He will need more than arse to beat class.