Nick Kyrgios He said at the beginning of the grass tour that on this surface he is among the top five in the world. Bragging, bragging. Words from a man used to living in controversy and whom nobody seemed to take seriously. Until the best two weeks of his sports career have placed him in a Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic.
It’s hard to believe, but this Sunday Nick Kyrgios will enter Center Court at Wimbledon for the first Grand Slam final of his career.. What will happen next is a mystery. Will he come out with a red cap, breaking the dress code? Will he set up a circus in the match? Will he face Djokovic? Will he be disqualified?
Your tournament invites you to think not, or at least part of it. The Australian has only starred in two scandals so far this tournament. In the first round he spat at a fan who insulted him and in the third he despaired of a Stefanos Tsitsipas who called him a bully. The truth is that his character has been refined (up to a certain point) and has softened when he sees in front of him the prize that he may have. He admitted to being more nervous than usual in the quarterfinals (his best in the Majors) against Cristian Garín and that’s why he didn’t throw a spoon serve.
The unknown is what he will do in the final. Whether he will choose to trust his tennis or throw Djokovic off center, or at least try, with his battles with the judges and with himself.
It may be that neither of the two will work for him, because in front of him he will have a man who has won six times here and who has accumulated 27 consecutive wins on these tracks. He is one match away from adding his fourth title in a row, something that, in the Open Era, only Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer have achieved.
Djokovic, after an irregular tournament, is back in his eighth Wimbledon final. He only lost the one in 2013 against Andy Murray. The The Serbian has lost five sets along the way, three of them against rivals much inferior to him and two in the comeback against Jannik Sinner, who he won 2-0 against.
Djokovic has not been seen more precise or hungrier, but he has not needed to show his best version to play a final in which he is the favorite and in which he has all the pressure to close in on Rafa Nadal, who is ahead of him by two Grand Slams. In addition, there is the possibility that this will be the last ‘major’ of the season for him, since, due to his decision not to get vaccinated and if the rules of entry to the United States do not change, he will not be able to play in New York.
This is your opportunity to put 21 on your scoreboard and definitively separate yourself from Roger Federer, who will be third in the race. He will stay, yes, one title away from Federer’s eight at Wimbledon and two away from Martina Navratilova’s record.
History hangs in the balance for him as Kyrgios plays the match that could define his career. “Not so long ago I thought about quitting and now I’m in the final. It’s been a crazy trip”, expressed the one from Canberra, who in March this year had the worst ranking of his career (132) since he reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon 2014 (144).
He will have the public in his favor, because a champion Kyrgios is the great entertainment of the tennis fan, the one that has kept him free from major sanctions by the ATP. If it weren’t for the amount of people he attracts, for his colorful game and the drama that accompanies it, nobody knows where the controversial player would be today.
“He’s a tennis player who plays great games. He deserves to be here and I’m happy for him”, added Djokovic, who has the great doubt of never having beaten him, although his two clashes were in 2017, an eternity ago.
Only a final between Nadal and Djokovic could have eclipsed the one that Djokovic and Kyrgios will play this Sunday, the match that will define the winner between history and fun.
schedule and television
The men’s final of Wimbledon 2022 will be played this Sunday at 3:00 p.m. on Center Court, and can be seen live on #Vamos (Movistar +)
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