Something is wrong with this game, which really promises everything that is needed for a legendary duel: two opponents on an equal footing; both brilliant, but so much in their own way that they couldn’t be more different. Both crazy, even on completely opposite ends of the spectrum, like Rami Malek’s Bond villain Lyutsifer Safin and Heath Ledger’s Joker from the Batman movie The Dark Knight. So what on earth is wrong with the duel between Daniil Medvedev and Nick Kyrgios?
It’s also supposed to be a sporty treat: the strategist against chav punk, both spectacular in their own way. Medvedev plans rallies like Boris Spassky planned chess games: apparently technically unclean, sometimes wild, with questionable moves and incomprehensible sacrifices; always ready to attack because he thinks a few strokes/moves ahead – although it certainly helps that water covers 71 percent of the earth’s surface and long-distance runner Medvedev covers the rest. He knows exactly where he, his opponent and the ball are, and he has them Legs, like the queen in chess, to be able to reach almost every square – and then to perform an incredible counterattack.
Medvedev thinks: “It’s not easy to like me as a tennis player”
Kyrgios is considered the intuitive, creative, dynamic. Throwing serves stops, volley lobs, through-the-legs half-volleys. Who is blessed by nature with so much feeling for the ball that you can take it as proof of how incredibly unfair life is. The opponent looks and drives them to despair with velvet hand punches and air guitar cheers that follow. But who can also suddenly explode because some triviality bothers him – like Bobby Fisher, Spassky’s great rival. Who then pimps in the direction of his followers and also spits like in the second round.
Chess player with tennis racket: Daniil Medvedev.
(Photo: Grace Schultz/ZUMA Wire/Imago)
But the interesting thing about this duel is that as different as they may seem, they are actually very similar. You notice that when you watch the games of the two in parallel on two screens at the same time; for example that of Kyrgios against JJ Wolf (USA) on Friday night in Louis Armstrong Stadiumwhich he won 6:4, 6:2, 6:2 – and next to that Medvedev against Yibing Wu (China) in the Arthur Ashe Stadium: 6:4, 6:2, 6:2.
Suddenly you notice how intuitively Medvedev acts and with how much feeling for the ball on the net, how he sometimes looks at his opponents. There is also a lot of tongue in cheek when he says: “It’s not easy to like me as a tennis player. My technique is a bit quirky, my style isn’t the most spectacular.” If you look at a game in its entirety and not just the highlights, you will notice that the way Medvedev plays is incredibly spectacular, exciting, thrilling.
And then you look over at the screen with Kyrgios – and realize how much hard work has gone into being able to play like this. No, it’s not just talent and touch, and life isn’t unfair. How he consciously switches to high-risk tennis in strategically important moments, but then plays repetition tennis again for eight, nine, ten points.
Who doesn’t freak out because he’s crazy – but because, as a perfectionist, he can’t stand not being perfect. “It’s tough mentally because after five perfect points I take a stupid shot and then I go crazy.” This puts him closer to sports savants like Ronnie O’Sullivan (snooker), Marcel Hirscher (alpine slalom) and Ayrton Senna (Formula 1) than to really crazy people like Dennis Rodman (basketball) or so-called sloppy ones geniuses
The two have played each other four times so far, and Kyrgios has won three times
That is exactly what this duel on Sunday is all about: two equals, apparently different, but on close and intensive inspection they are similar. The two have played each other four times so far, Kyrgios has won three times, and now you can see what’s wrong with this game: Only one of the duels was a final, Kyrgios won in Rome in 2019. This year: second round at the Australian Open (Medvedev won) and third round recently in Montréal (Kyrgios won). Now: Round of 16.
The Medvedev/Kyrgios duel is one that can shape this sport; for it to be that, it has to be a final or at least a semi-final. The people at the US Open call the round of 16 “fourth round”, which of course sounds more like an order at the bar than an unforgettable event in tennis. Medvedev is number one in the world; it’s up to Kyrgios to make those games endgames.