You have to believe in the power of Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon. Winner of a boxing and tennis match against Stefanos Tsitsipas, the Australian put an end to a series of seven defeats against members of the top 5. With the manner, the nerve, and the art of creating drama.
Everything had gone pretty well until 5-5 in the first set, under heavy fire from the Australian pirate’s laser strikes. Before an anthology of insults, calls to the supervisor, slippages, provocations, false friendliness, for nearly an hour. Nick Kyrgios lit the fuse and Stefanos Tsitsipas did not extinguish it as it is true that it must not be so easy to keep calm in the face of such an olibrius. 5-5, therefore, and the start of the wild show.
Tsitsipas advantage on serve, and return of Kyrgios judged out by the linesman. The Aussie doesn’t like London judges. He found them too old, and somehow unfit for service, in his first round against Jubb. In this new game, he didn’t like the misjudgment (his return was good). And, the loss of the game consumed, here he is attacking the French referee Damien Dumusois. One could make fun of the reasons why the Australian leaves the match alone, to destroy in five minutes the excellence of his start to the match, and to be consumed in the tie-break managed with realism by his opponent.
We could also admire, despite all the electricity in the air, the Australian’s ability to stay in the match, to save at 4-4 in the second set his first break point conceded, on an ace in the second ball , or to conclude the round in his favor on a blocked forehand counter to shoot a masterful passing.
But here again, the Australian prefers to fight by asking that Tsitsipas, guilty of a powerful ball throw in the stands, not be disqualified… Long under control, the Greek lost his calm in the third set, until throwing a frustrating return on a Kyrgios underarm serve at the speed of sound, before ostensibly targeting the Australian each time he came up to the net.
In this bubbling atmosphere, there was a match, and a very good one, spiced up with 118 winning shots and exchanges disputed at an incredible tempo. In the fourth set, Tsitispas first saves six break points to avoid the knockout, and gets a set point at 5-4 saved from a cross backhand attack from Kyrgios. The tie-break is full of winning shots. The Greek gets a second set point, but makes the wrong choice on a passing that Kyrgios transforms into a drop volley. On his second match point, the Australian concludes with a drop shot. Opposed to the American Nakashima, he is the favorite of his part of the table to go to the semi-finals.