Nick Kyrgios vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas was undoubtedly the main course at this week’s Citi Open, but such a delicacy deserves a worthy dessert and it will likely get it in the form on Sunday’s final between Kyrgios vs. Daniil Medvedev.
If any matchup has a chance to rival the entertainment that was on display with Kyrgios and Tsitsipas on Saturday night, it’s Kyrgios-Medvedev. Both players are in stellar form (Kyrgios finally, Medvedev throughout the entire season), they are unorthodox performers (in much different ways), and each can go wildly off the rails from a mental standpoint at any give time.
In other words, anything could happen in this one.
Their first meeting progressed without incident this spring in Rome, where Kyrgios survived a high-quality three setter 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. It was after that when the 24-year-old Australian’s Rome campaign went completely haywire, as he got defaulted in round two against Casper Ruud.
Kyrgios’ behavior in Washington, D.C. has been predictably bizarre, but for the most part he has not crossed the line–yet–and has instead been putting on a fun show for fans while also playing awesome tennis. The world No. 52 picked up straight-set wins over Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Gilles Simon, Yoshihito Nishioka, and Norbert Gombos before beating his doubles partner and the top-seeded Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(7).
“This week has been awesome,” Kyrgios commented. “It’s probably one of the best tournament weeks of my life. I’ve really enjoyed myself; D.C. has been a lot of fun; crowds have been awesome. But I’m just doing the right things. I’m having the same routine every day. I’m trying to improve on a lot of little habits, and it’s paying off. Five days in a row competing, I’m pretty happy with myself.”
With Kyrgios stealing all the headlines, Medvedev has quietly gone about his business in flawlessly efficient fashion. The 10th-ranked Russian is through to the final following straight-set defeats of Bjorn Fratangelo, Frances Tiafoe, Marin Cilic, and Peter Gojowyczk. Medvedev is 34-14 in 2019 and will be No. 6 in the race to London if he triumphs on Sunday.
“He’s a super unorthodox player,” Kyrgios said of his opponent. “He’s got a very tough game, hits the ball flat. Unbelievable athlete I think for his size. He moves really well. That match in Rome was high level. I thought I played the right way, I had the right tactics, so he’s going to make adjustments.”
“With guys like Nick and me, it always comes to one break of serve or to a tiebreak, so that’s probably what we are both looking for,” Medvedev noted. [We’ll] just do our best on the return and stay solid, and that will be the key.”
As well and as inspired as Kyrgios is playing, this is a good opportunity for Medvedev to avenge his Rome loss. Washington’s No. 3 seed is an expert at using opponents’ pace to generate his own and he almost always manages to keep big hitters off balance with his variety of spins and slices. Medvedev also possesses a big enough serve to trade hold after hold with Kyrgios, who had tape all over his body on Saturday and is coming off a much, much tougher semifinal.
Pick: Medvedev in 3
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Kyrgios in 3. Are you going to post Montreal Predictions?
<—- Completely clueless. Anything could happen and well might. NK, Tsitsi, Paire, Medvedev… what is this? The Tournament of Flakes?
?
Tsitsipas and Medvedev are certainly no flakes. And while there exist many colorful adjectives for describing Kyrgios – flake doesn’t really do his crazy personality justice😉
Kyrgios in two
Should be fun…..Medv in 2.
After watching that final , Im convinced no-one is more talented than Nick .If only he could play like that all the time.
But a first round exit in Montreal is as likely as him winning the tournament.Crazy .
Kyrgios is helped very much by his big serve. In terms of talent, I doubt he’s better than any of the big four.
Tsitsipas and Medvedev are no big four, and Kyrgios barely beat them. Granted, Kyrgios is having some problem with his back during the final, but he’s beating two younger players B2B, not the big four B2B.
Also, the fast court of Citi Open suits him, Tsitsipas looked rushed out there esp when he didn’t know where the ball would be coming at him. Both Tsitsipas and Medvedev had their chances (Tsitsipas despite not the better player in the SF, was still having MP; Medvedev was leading in the first set TB but tense up and let slip the lead).
It make me question the standard of the top ten these days, when three past their prime players are still at the top, the the rest of the top ten could barely reach the QFs at Masters and slams regularly; compare that to say 2011 to say 2014 when most of the top ten or top eight could reach the QF or beyond regularly at Masters and slams!
Not taking anything away from Kyrgios, he’s still winning when having problems with his back, credit to him. He’s just better than both Tsitsipas and Medvedev, no question about that. If, and a big If, he has the attitude and dedication of Tsitsipas (not even talking about the big four), he could maybe win a slam or two by now when the big three slipped up during 2016, I feel.
He may really win a slam or two, when the big three finally call it a day. He’s young enough to take advantage of the post big three days imo, when all he has to face are Tsitsipas, Medvedev, Sasha, FAA, Shapo whom all he could beat when hes playing well enough and care enough to beat.
Lucky, I agree with your assessment and I also question very much the overall standard of the current top players below the Big Three. While the level of the thirtysomethings Djoker/Rafa/Fed is obviously still very high (and Rafa has actually improved certain aspects of his game on grass and hardcourt), they are still able to dominate the rest of the field although they are past their prime. This baffling situation is possible because the players below the Big Three are way too inconsistent, and they haven’t yet reached the level of past top ten players. Thiem on clay, Zverev outside the slams (at least last year’s version of Zverev) and Tsitsipas are getting there, but they are still not at all where they need to be in order to seriously challenge the Big Three and they still have too many losses to other players. Kyrgios is a curious exception because he is able to beat anyone on a good day when he gets his act together, but he’s even more inconsistent than the rest of the field. While his attitude is responsible for many of his losses, it is often overlooked that he is injury prone as well. His back and his hip have given him a lot of trouble.
Many commenters here don’t like Kyrgios, but I would be more than happy if he would get his act together and finally do justice to his talents and stops being a loose cannon who wreaks havoc only to flame out in the next round. Considering solely his potential and the level of the rest of the competition, it’s not surprising at all that he managed to win the title in Washington. At Wimby he had the bad luck to run early into an inspired and well playing Rafa, whom he had seriously pissed off earlier this year ☺ Otherwise he might’ve done well.
Littlefoot, I just don’t understand why Kyrgios dislike Rafa (and Djoko) so much and tries to intimidate them all the time, whilst he’s so friendly towards Tsitsipas (and Fed).
Well, I think perhaps Fed is his idol, and he dislike both Rafa and Djoko because they’ve Fed’s numbers so often. He twitted that he hoped for Fed to beat Djoko in the Wimbledon final.
I do feel he, and many people, fail to see the brilliance in both Rafa’s and Djoko’s games. I mean peak Rafa and peak Djoko were simply awesome, not even Fed could deal with them; they’re not grinders (the likes of Simon or Ferrer; even they were also brilliant in their own ways!) but best counterpunchers in the open era imo!
How many counterpunchers could have Fed’s numbers? Not Hewitt, not anyone else; respect where respect is due, to both Rafa and Djoko.
He’s friendly towards him maybe because he’s Greek and Kyrgios is half Greek.
Interesting thought, Eugene – although I wouldn’t think that nationality is important for Kyrgios. Tsitsipas might just be a very nice guy. And Sometimes allegiances as well as feuds are forged by little things. As I said, Moya used to be very friendly with Nick.
Yeah, Kyrgios’ intense dislike of Rafa (and the Djoker) is a bit baffling. Fun fact: a few years ago Moya said that Kyrgios is one of his favorite young players and that it is a lot of fun to be in his company.
My take is, that Nick’ and Rafa’s personalities are polar opposites on so many levels. The only thing they have in common is that they are both very talented professional tennis players. Nick just doesn’t understand Rafa’s professionalism, work ethos and love for this sport, while Rafa doesn’t get that this level of dedication isn’t for everyone and most certainly isn’t Nick’s cup of tea. Rafa also doesn’t approve at all of Nick’s bad boy behavior. The funny thing is, that Rafa has always had and still has a very colorful and flashy on-court personality, too, although he has always been respectful towards his opponents. And while Rafa had bis fair share of clashes with some umpires as well, he has never verbally abused them. Kyrgios on the other hand fails to reckognize and to appreciate Rafa’s unorthodox and creative style and his high tennis IQ.
Sometimes feuds get ignited by little things. The Rafa/Nick feud seriously gained legs when Rafa claimed after his loss in Acapulco that Nick’s underarm serve was disrespectful, and then Nick accused Rafa in no uncertain words of being a sore loser. As far as this specific incident ist concerned I’m actually on Nick’s side, although I think he subsequently overreacted to Rafa’s criticism. But the underarm serve is totally allowed and can be a sensible tactical move against some opponents. IMO there’s nothing whatsoever wrong with the underarm serve. When a seventeen year old teenager called Michael Chang did it against a baffled Ivan Lendl during his amazing run to the FO title, he was praised by everyone for his guts 😊. And since Rafa is often camping out so far behind the baseline, it’s very tempting to try the underarm serve against him now and then as a tactical weapon, since it increases the unpredictability. While many of Rafa’s comments on Kyrgios are spot on (especially in his post-match presser at Wimby), he should not have criticized the underarm serve. I cannot recall if there was a serious personal feud between Rafa and Kyrgios before the Acapulco incident.
I think you’re mistaken about Rafa, Rafa wasn’t saying that Kyrgios’s underarm serve was disrespectful, in fact he said it’s perfectly within the rules. What was disrespectful was Kyrgios’s behaviour towards the spectators, those pro Rafa spectators.
Rafa was ok during their Wimbledon match when Kyrgios did the underarm serve, he just laughed it off. It’s the media, the social media, that made a fuss of the issue, as if Rafa was angry because of the underarm serve.
Rafa was more pissed with himself after losing a match when he had wasted three MPs, more than what Kyrgios had done during the match.
Littlefoot, even before the Acapulco match, Kyrgios already had a dislike for Rafa. He said it himself, once he saw Rafa’s name in the draw, he would do his best to beat whoever so that he could meet Rafa. To me, he even shown disdain for Rafa, and wants to beat Rafa desperately every time they meet.
He said clay court tennis is not real tennis, whilst grass court tennis is the real tennis. Like I said earlier on, perhaps he’s unhappy that Rafa (and Djoko), the counterpunchers could beat his idol Fed so often (and to him tennis is about attacking!). He just fails to see how difficult it is to be counterpunchers of Rafa’s and Djoko’s caliber; they’re no ordinary counterpunchers.
Imo, both Rafa and Djoko could be attacking players with all the weapons that they have; both started out being more offensive players but I suspect the slowing of the courts had made them adapted their games too, to be primarily baseliners and playing the defence/offence game instead of making frequent forays to the net only to be passed there by their opponents passing shots.
Fed too adapted his game, from S&V to a baseline game, with occasional ventures to the net. They all played primarily from the baseline (watched Fed during 2005 to 2008/2009, he played a baseline game; watched Fed vs Rafa at Shanghai TMC in 2006, one of the best if not the best BO3 HC match played from the baseline by Fedal!).
Personally, I don’t see how Rafa is a counterpuncher. Counterpunchers generally need to use the power of the their opponent in order generate power on their own shots. Rafa is one of the most outright powerful players ever! I think that some people think that because Rafa tends to stand back behind the baseline and play defensively, that that makes him a “counterpuncher”. This is a common misconception. I don’t even think it’s humanly possible to counterpunch if you have a huge, loopy back-swing on your forehand like Rafa does. Particularly on the forehand side, Rafa tends to stand back and generate his own power. That is the polar opposite of counterpunching. If Rafa wants to, he can crush a forehand winner from anywhere on the court.
To me, the quintessential counterpuncher was Leyton Hewitt. He was extremely small and severely lacked the ability to generate his own pace and power, so he needed to use the pace of his opponent to generate his own. There is very good reason why Lleyton was his best on grass and faster hard courts, and was horrendous on slow courts, especially clay. This is because on a fast court there is much more pace coming at him, allowing him to really counter punch. His amazing counterpunching ability, paired with his incredible quickness and fighting spirit, is what made him arguably massively overachieve for such a small man. He was useless on clay and other slow courts because there was no pace for him to use to his advantage.
I suppose that maybe Rafa can counterpunch sometimes on his backhand side, but not really. I just don’t see how Rafa is even remotely a counterpuncher. Again, there seems to be a common misconception that staying back and/or playing defensively is counterpunching. From what I was taught, this is just not the case. Even if he wanted to counterpunch, he couldn’t do it with such a long, looping backswing. Novak, on the other hand, can be considered a counterpuncher, although he is also capable of generating his own power so it’s hard to say.
Oh, and one other thing- yes, Kyrgios is a moron. But that’s nothing we didn’t already know.
Hi Kevin, I agree with you about Rafa and his ability to generate pace and power but the general perception by most people, of Rafa and his tennis, is that he’s a counterpuncher.
I think it’s because Rafa doesn’t go for the attack right away, but rather waits for his chances before going for the kill, and in the process, he tends to defend against any attack first, before doing his own attacking. The pure counterpunchers of this era may be Simon, and the now retired Ferrer.
Rafa said it himself, that’s he’s not a defensive player; he said his way of being aggressive is to make things difficult for his opponents (to me that’s when he keeps attacking his opponent’s weaknesses once hes able to find them). He may not go for outright winners but may win the points through forced or unforced errors (which some people claimed that he’s winning by waiting for errors from his opponents, through long rallies etc).
Rafa does his relentless attacking of his opponents’ weaknesses by upping and sustaining his own intensity, overwhelming them thus giving his opponents little chances to fight back, that may be why some here call this his bullying tactics (unfair imo, when the bigger bullies are those hard hitters and big servers, and also those who force their way forward and beat you by taking away your time giving you no room and no time to defend for yourself. To me those are the bullies, not the one who waits for his chances to attack!).
Tsitsipas said of Rafa, after losing to him at AO this year, that Rafa played like a bulldog, ie once he bites you, he’ll never let go!
Kevin, I respectfully disagree with you that Kyrgios is a moron. He indeed does behave moronically at times, but can also be extremely insightful now and then. A lot of players who know him much better than we fans do, seem to genuinely like him, although they don’t necessarily condon the more questionable aspects of his behavior. Andy Murray certainly likes him, and, as I said, Moya used to list him as one of his favorite players to be around with a few years ago. Moya may now have changed his opinion, though 😉
But I agree with all you say about Rafa’s image as a counterpuncher. This is indeed a misconception, since he can generate his own power and does hit clean winners from every angle and position. And he developed and refined this aspect of his game constantly.
But personally I don’t understand anyway, why so many fans exclusively prefer players who play attacking tennis and disparage all other styles or surfaces which are not as conductive for constant attacking. There’s room for all sorts of game plans and surfaces and no style or surface is inherently superior.
Lucky, you may be right, and Kyrgios seems indeed to have targeted Rafa even before the Acapulco match. I haven’t kept track of this specific feud before. And Nick does seem to idolize Fed a bit. But that shouldn’t lead to this intense disdain towards other top players. Tsitsipas also idolizes Fed quite a bit. He even said that he read a book about Fed for educational purposes and in order to regroup mentally after he crashed out of Wimby in the first round. But as far as I know, Tsitsipas is very respectful towards other players, although some opponents complain about some of his on-court behavior
. But we discussed why Kyrgios and Tsitsipas seem to get along just fine, which seems strange, since they seem to be polar opposites character-wise, as Kyrgios even conceeded. Maybe, it’s their preference for Fed, lol! But seriously, we know hardly anything about the off-court personas of the players and how they really communicate with each other in a more private setting.
Littlefoot- you’re right, Moron was not the right word to use. He’s a cocky bully who thinks he is cooler than everyone else. I’m sure he is actually a smart guy. He just acts like a teenager when he’s an adult. I like it when athletes have an edge, but only if they stay humble. He is literally the polar-opposite of humble. I honestly couldn’t care less that he doesn’t seem to care enough about tennis to live up to his potential. It’s that he talks and acts like he is great, and he is not. Greatness is not achieved just with talent. If he wants to act and talk like he’s better than everyone, he needs to back it up. He should have won something that matters before he started running his mouth. THAT is what bothers me.
littlefoot AUGUST 5, 2019 AT 12:06 PM,
Rafa didn’t claim in Acapulco that Nick’s underarm serve was disrespectful. Rafa was asked a question about it at Indian Wells. He replied: “…was not against his serving, he’s free to do that the way he wants. I don’t feel disrespected by this at all.”
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2019/03/nadal-doubles-down-comments-he-made-about-kyrgios-acapulco/80203/
Here, you can see a video clip of Rafa laughing at Kyrgios’s underarm serve in Wimbledon:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1146817060997128192
Try not to believe false stories about Rafa created by Fed devotees. 🙂
Agree with Augusta about the Acapulco.
I do recall something about Nick picking a fight or being taunted into an argument with a fan(s) in Acapulco.
After watching Nick’s matches this past week – I have to say his moodiness — going from high and happy to sullen and angry is finally getting to me. In the final vs Medvedev, he was stable – except the back issue, and walking like an eighty-year old person. In general, I think fans here are liking him more, while I’m finally done with him.
He could be improving. I don’t know. Tsitsipas was the one that annoyed me the most – a grown man totally helpless to conquer the shoelace problem. I was with Benoit Paire on that subject.
Definitely Nick has made it known that he’s a Federer fan. So he does have it in for Nole and Rafa. Lol, good luck with that, Nick.
I’m just glad Wa.D.C. is over. It was a terrible tournament (imo) on the WTA side and ridiculous drama’s on the men’s side. Or maybe I’m just cranky. The heat is annoying me. Can’t wait until August and fire season is over.
On to Montreal. It’s refreshing to have Rafa back in the draw.
Ha, ha, I’m cranky, too, because unfortunately we have been tormented with several heat waves here in Northern Germany, too. And we don’t even have air conditioners in many private or public places, although that might change soon, if the summer months will continue to be so hot.
It will be interesting to see, where Kyrgios will go from now on. I wouldn’t bet on a stabilization, although it was interesting to hear him talk about some kind of mental help he is getting now. If true, it’s most certainly a good idea😉
Another thing: he later said, that Washington was the best week of his career and that he never had more fun. So much for his claims that he disdains tennis and professional success! Apparently not really true. He loves successes and being liked by the crowd as much as the next guy.
Astonishing temperatures in Northern Europe! By August, I would die of heat stroke if I had no air conditioner. This has been, I guess, a “nice” summer, according to locals here, because we have only had a mere two days above 99F. Unbelievable the amount of people in Boise, Idaho who complain when summer temps do not get above triple digits !!
Nick is subject to wild mood swings. He goes into self-destruct mode too quickly and often to identify what he really wants. I think you are right about loving success and being loved by the crowd. He denies himself the very thing he really wants and needs.
It was nice to see him sincerely happy after winning the DC title. He was treated kindly there. Some saintly tournament officials were pulling for him apparently and making it known they care and respect him. He probably doesn’t get that very often.
We shall see if he goes there every year as he said he would during the trophy ceremony.
Augusta, you are right and Rafa didn’t say that specifically the underarm serve was disrespectful, although many – including Kyrgios himself – seemed to interprete it like this later. But Rafa was talking about other annoying things.
littlefoot AUGUST 5, 2019 AT 3:12 PM,
It was just Kyrgios’s own wishful thinking.
Not really. Even Kyrgios knew he wasn’t fit to go deep at Wimbledon. I agree there’s still some serious questions about his fitness and whether he has the mental and physical ability to do the work he’ll need even to have a chance to keep fit. He’s abused his body and he’s not a kid any more.
The younger guys (Tsitsipas, Zverev, and especially Auger-Alassime are still very young. They all have weaknesses in their games but they’ve all shown an ability to beat the big three on occasion. FAA really needs to fix his second serve. When that thing isn’t working it’s cost him some big matches. The Big Three have physical weaknesses now but their games are incredible. When they’re on they’re still as good or better than they ever were.
No one will be happier than Rafa to see NK get his game together and get the ranking he should have. Rafa’s problem with playing him in Acapulco was that it was in Rafa’s first match there, with NK already having played a match and “gunning” for him. NK isn’t someone that should be an early round opponent for a high ranking player. It’s like being ambushed. This after a week when Rafa couldn’t practice at all because he’d hurt his hand. What Rafa said about NK in his exit presser was that he “lacked respect for tennis, for the fans, for his opponent”, something that EVERYONE has said about the guy at some point.
well being a 25-32 seed will be a disaster for one of the 1-8 seeds (of which Nadal is one!) at the US Open….