Nick Kyrgios is the sixth best server in our sport in the past 25 years.
Better than Roger Federer. Better than Pete Sampras. Better than Goran Ivanisevic, Boris Becker, Richard Krajicek and Wayne Arthurs.
Once you wrap your head around that, and pick your jaw up off the ground, you need to know why. There’s three reasons.
1. DISGUISE
It’s impossible to predict where he is going to hit it. Whether he serves wide or down the center in the deuce court or the ad court, the toss the same, the contact point is the same, and the result is the same.
Deadly accuracy. Point over before it begins.
Kyrgios has an extremely quick service motion and a low toss. When you combine those two things together, the serve has gone past you before you know what happened. There is less time to prepare than against other players.
2. MIX
In Kyrgios’ opening round victory against Rogerio Dutra Silva, he didn’t just pummel one corner - he pummeled them all.
Deuce court first serve location
• Wide = 15
• Center = 16
Ad court first serve location
• Wide = 14
• Center = 13
Where are you going to cover? Which corner do you guess next time? Kyrgios won 76 per cent (22/31) of first serve points in the deuce court, and 71 per cent (22/27) in the ad court. Overall for the match, the Australian had 52 per cent (30/58) of his first serves unreturned. So for every two first serves he launches, he only has to deal with one of them coming back in the court.
Must be nice.
3. SPEED
The initial second serve that Kyrgios hit against Dutra Silva meandered over the net at 148 km/h (92mph). Routine. It was just setting the table. His slowest second serve for the match was 134 km/h (83mph), while the fastest was 177km/h (110km/h) - an ace right down the center, at 3-1, 0-15 in the opening set.
He gives you whiplash. He goes off speed, and then goes full speed. Completely, irritatingly, unpredictable. Just how he likes it.
Kyrgios battles Victor Troicki on Hisense Arena on Wednesday evening in the second round of the 2018 Australian Open - not before 6.45pm. It’s fair to say the locals will be losing their mind supporting their home-grown star, trying to carry him through to the third round to play the winner of the mouth-watering Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v Denis Shapovalov encounter.
It’s important to understand the different feeling of Hisense Arena … at that time of day. It’s more raucous, it’s more lubricated, it’s more primal, and it’s exactly the kind of circus that Kyrgios thrives in.
They have played once before, with Kyrgios thumping Troicki 6-1, 6-2 last season in round one in Canada. This match has the same feeling to it.
The 2018 version of Kyrgios is legit. He is a title contender here in Melbourne. Winning Brisbane rubber stamped that. There are 128 players in the main draw in Melbourne, but you could count on one hand the players that can truly win it.
He is one of them.
PREDICTION: Kyrgios in three sets
