Two extremely different personalities will be on different sides of the net in the Citi Open semifinals on Saturday night. Surprisingly, however, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios were on the same side in Washington, D.C. earlier this week.
Teaming up in doubles for the first time, the deep-thinking Tsitsipas and the brash and oftentimes brainless Kyrgios put on a show but lost to Wimbledon champions Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-3, 3-6, 10-5 on Monday. Neither singles star had any trouble sticking around in the nation’s capital the rest of the week, making their respective ways to the semis to battle for a spot in Sunday’s championship match. This mouth-watering matchup will likely lead to a similarly popcorn-requiring final against Daniil Medvedev, who faces lucky loser Peter Gojowyczk in the first semifinal.
“He’s an amazing player and I have the utmost respect for him,” Kyrgios said of Tsitsipas. “He goes about it differently than me. We’ve gotten to know each other this week and we’re literally the polar opposites. It’s going to be a lot of fun, so I’m excited for it.”
Kyrgios has been motivated dating back to Wimbledon, where he reached the second before losing to Rafael Nadal in a contentious, high-quality four-setter. The Aussie also made headlines in Atlanta despite only playing doubles and so far in the district has ousted Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Gilles Simon, Yoshihito Nishioka, and Norbert Gombos all in straight sets.
“You never know what to expect from him,” Tsitsipas noted. “I think his serve is the biggest weapon in his game. In the rally, he sometimes goes for crazy shots. He’s unpredictable. He just seems very relaxed when he plays. I’m going to have to be careful of his shot selection, trying to execute and not play his game, [but] play my game.”
The 20-year-old Greek is already up to No. 6 in the world and represents a steep step up in competition from Kyrgios’ previous opponents. He is through to this final following straight-set victories over Tommy Paul, Jordan Thompson, and Benoit Paire. But that crop of players–not even Paire–boasts the same kind of firepower and overall talent as Kyrgios.
“I’m super happy that all the work I’ve been doing off the court is translating on the court,” Kyrgios said after making routine work of Gombos on Friday night. “Four days in a row and four matches at my highest level. I’m pretty happy about it. I love playing night matches. The crowd gets into it, so I’m just trying to give them some fun tennis and also give them some wins, as well.”
Another night session and another serving performance like the ones that have been on display throughout the week will likely see Kyrgios advance to the title match in entertaining style.
Pick: Kyrgios in 3
[polldaddy poll=10378125]
WWW?
Medvedev is facing Gombos in his semi? Did losing to NK in the quarters make Gombos the luckiest loser of all time and place him in the other semi? Well deserved, no doubt, but a bit hard on Gojo who won his quarter…
Anyway, Tsitsi in 2 and Medvedev in 2 or 3, whoever he plays.
Tsitsipas beat Jordan Thompson, not Kyrgios.
Kyrgios in 3
My only hope is that Stefanos comes on court with extra shoelaces. He should remember what Paire had to say! lol
Nick in 2 or 3 would be great but I was noticing that Nick was slowing down vs Gombos – he wasn’t running for shots like he did a couple matches ago; but he didn’t have to go full gas to win v Gombos. I worry about Nick’s fitness. I doubt he is as fit as in 2016 when he won 3 titles: Tokyo, Atlanta, and Marseille.
NK can beat Tsitsipas; just not sure about this time. May the strongest man win – because it is likely that Medvedev is in the final. And somebody has to beat that guy — maybe it won’t be this time, but surely Rafa can beat Medvedev in Montreal if it comes to that.
Vamos Rafa in Montreal!!
Not all that sure about Kyrgios. He wasn’t chasing balls down in the match vs Gombos. I though he let too many go by. Could be a sign of his body wearing down. It’s not every week that Nick makes a SF or gets a shot at a title.
Hope he’s fit and gets the win tho.
My hope is NK in 2. And he’s as good as he says he is 😀
Then I hope Nick beats Medvedev in the final – that would be awesome.
Medvedev in 2 in his SF.
wow…this is truly awful. Nick, has gone beyond me. Have to admit. He really knows how to be a depressing dude.
Both these players have bizarre issues. Should start calling these time outs what they are: mini psychiatric emergencies.
Could not watch it anymore. It was just ridiculous. Takes a lot for me to realize I can hate tennis!!!
Stefanos needs to learn how to fix his own shoes, geez. I’m feeling Benoit Paire! Completely over it. LOL Give me a real tennis match.
Pair of assholes
No kidding! One acts like a spoiled Princess who requires servants to tie his shoes, not just once a match, but up to more than three times in a match.
Can anything be done about Tsitsipas?
The other one is trying to be the Happy Gilmore of tennis half of his time on court and a scary psychotic the other half of the time. In the end, he goes back to Happy Gilmore and charms the fans and his utterly lost opponent. Bizarre match. Maybe I should try smoking pot while watching to remain laughing the entire time, instead of sinking into one of Nick’s dark mood swings. Because he will bounce back to a good kind of crazy and talented. But you really never know….
LETS GO NICK
Tsitsipas really needs to go improve his ROS! His ROS is poor for a top ten player.
He’s developing a bad habit of losing tight matches where he has/had chances of winning – like the Miami match vs Shapo, FO match vs Stan and now vs Kyrgios. He’s just not clutch enough to win those matches, still not experienced I supposed.
He had won 91/182 points vs Kyrgios ie winning exactly 50% of the points and their serve winning % were identical, unbelievable. He also won exactly 50% (100/200) points vs Shapo at Miami. Both times he managed more BP opportunities than his opponents but failed to take his chances!
Time to go improve on all these areas. He looked out of breath at times during the match, was he not that fit or was it due to the heat/humidity? It’s another thing that he needs to address.
Kyrgios as we know is capable of such tennis he displayed in this match, so when you have your chances, you have to take them.
NK can make anyone’s ROS look poor. I think these “growing pains” will be good for Tsitsi.
I’m wondering about what kind of contract NK has with his sponsor nowadays. Something with a ton of bonus incentives is my guess. Might account for his new found interest in “work”. Let’s see how long it lasts after a few big losses.
The FO match vs Stan was even more painful when he had 27 BP chances but let 22 of them slipped away; and he won one more point than Stan – 195 vs Stan’s 194! What a way to lose a winnable match! Tsitsipas is simply not clutch enough, ever since his heroic win over Fed at the AO where he saved so many BPs.
I don’t think he’s able to defend the finalist points at Montreal next week, and I have doubts that he could go far at the USO, seeing how he still has so many shortcomings in his game.