The second Monday at Wimbledon is arguably the best day on the entire tennis calendar year in and year out. And it may not get any better than Andy Murray vs. Nick Kyrgios. They are headlining the action on Centre Court as the fourth round takes center stage.
(15) Nick Kyrgios vs. (2) Andy Murray
Murray and Kyrgios will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers when they complete the head-to-head career Grand Slam on Monday afternoon. This will be their fourth major meeting since the 2015 Australian Open, a span of just seven slams, after they faced each other last season in Melbourne, Roland Garros, and New York.
The series stands at 4-0 in favor Murray, who is 11-1 in total sets against Kyrgios. After losing the first 10 sets they contests, the 21-year-old Aussie finally made some inroads by taking the third during a first-round U.S. Open encounter last summer–but he still fell 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
As if he needed any help against Kyrgios, Murray now has home-court advantage at an event he won in 2013. The second-ranked Scot is now the favorite to triumph again with Novak Djokovic having bowed out at the hands of Sam Querrey in round three. Murray’s progress, on the other hand, has been smooth. He did not surrender a single set in the first week while taking out Liam Broady, Yen-Hsun Lu, and John Millman.
“It doesn’t because if I was to reach the final, then it may have some bearing really, but it doesn’t right now,” Murray said of Djokovic’s exit. “My draw’s still exactly the same. The matches, in the next round especially, are tough. Nick and Feli are both very, very good grass court players. The bookies don’t always get it right. They made a few mistakes over the last few weeks across a number of different things.”
Kyrgios, one of the top five title favorites before the fortnight even began, has advanced with defeats of Radek Stepanek, Dustin Brown, and Feliciano Lopez. Not too surprisingly given the severity of the draw, the world No. 18 won none of those in straight sets.
“It’s obviously been tough,” he reflected. “I feel coming here every day, being on schedule every day nearly, with the rain, it hasn’t been easy for any player going into the locker room, preparing for matches, going back out. Physically, I feel good. Mentally, I feel good. I’ve been to the fourth round at Grand Slams before. I know what to expect.”
What to expect, of course, is another Murray victory. Even on grass, his return game should be able to get the best of Kyrgios’ biggest weapon, the serve. The volatile youngster may be a future Wimbledon champion if he keeps his head on at least somewhat straight, but a huge opportunity awaits Murray with Djokovic out and it is one on which he just might capitalize.
Pick: Murray in 4
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Murray in four is my pick but I’m rooting for the Kyrgios upset.
Yeah, clearly Murray for the win in 4 or maybe 5. I agree Nick may be the future Wimby champion but he is just not there yet…
Andy looking good and his prospects are higher than ever to win the title now that Nole is out…
I would love Nick to play his best tennis, serve better than in his previous matches and make a match of it…
With Djokovic out of the equation Murray is now the favourite for the title which in itself presents him with an even greater level of home crowd expectation than usual. To fail now is virtually unthinkable but he is also well aware an on-fire Kyrgios is quite capable of ambushing his chances. I think it could easily go to a five-setter although am hoping he will get the job done in four.
Murray in 5
Definitely like Murray in 3. saw a bit of Kyrios while I was over there last week and he looked focused….but Murray on Centre Court…beat down.
Federer will win.
#18.
Those of you who know how vehemently anti-NK I was will be amused to know I have finally gotten around to understanding the pro-Kyrgios stance. He has mellowed a lot and toned down the ‘enfant terrible’ act and is harnessing his natural-born talent to good effect. I was particularly impressed by his antics at Boodles where his penchant for amusing the crowd was put to good use.
It was just a matter of time ed.
😉
Murray in 3
While I don’t know that I will ever totally embrace Nik, I do have to say that I appreciate his talent. He has conducted himself better recently. Whether he realizes his potential is up to him.
I think Nik will welcome the challenge of playing Murray. He has the confidence to handle the big stage. Murray will be ready for him. He knows that the guy is dangerous.
Murray has been looking good. I think this is going to be a good match. Murray for the win in 4 sets.
Well he barely turned up to play today 🙁
It’s been one way traffic. So often the highly anticipated matches turn out to be damp a damp squib.
And there was I thinking it might even go to five sets. lol.
How wrong can you be.
Yep. Nick fails big! Dissapoints yet again! I thought he could make this interesting but boy was I wrong..,
Good for Andy…easy win it is! Andy playing great! Bravo!
Andy Murray received a standing ovation!
🙂
Nice match going on right now between Berdych and Vesley; awesome display of raw power – big serving, big hitting – plus some net rushing and drop shots, nice!
Both playing very well.
Murray had a much easier time than I thought he would against Nik. He is very focused and playing well. Nik was very disappointing. He seemed to lose his way. Not a good effort from him.
Berdy and Vesely has been good to watch. Some great power hitting from both guys. Berdy seems robe in control now,
I think we are looking at a Fed/Murray final.
I expected Muzz-Curious to be an exciting match but it wasn’t. I did not expect Berdy vesely to be the best match but it is. Berdy is the best player not to have won a slam. Of late he has faded a bit but till at least 2010 he was GS material. But Fedal barred the way then for all comers including Djok-Muzz.
Djok could at least sneak one win in 2008 thanks perhaps to mono but no such luck for Muzz who had to wait till 2012. Wawa broke through when Fedal loosened their grip but Berdy was probably too much in awe of the Big 4 to take advantage of the breach and had settled subconsciously for qf as his halting station.
Vamos Andy! Excellent win
Whew! Berdy Vesely probably headed for a 5th set!
I think Berdych got robbed with that point that Vesely hit out but no hawkeye to confirm. He has himself to blame if he loses it tommorrow, as he was serving for the match at 5-4 fourth set but got broken.
that ball was in
I saw it as out; Berdych too and that’s why he’s so frustrated when Layani corrected it. There’s no hawkeye to challenge it anyway, so the call had to be accepted.
I had to go out and thought that Berdy had the match in the bag when he was up a break in the fourth set. From reading the comments, it appears that was not the case. I didn’t see the bad call, but it sounds unfortunate.
So this one is not over yet. Too bad for Berdy.