Nick Kyrgios. A name that incites either a roll of the eyes, a smile or possibly both from casual and dedicated tennis fans alike. Throughout his short professional career, Kyrgios and controversy have gone together like bangers and mash, with headlines in mainstream sports pages usually detailing not the results of his matches, but whatever antic or altercation has occurred between him and the officials.
Thus, Kyrgios’ showcasing triumph in Washington has a cathartic element, both for himself and the tennis community. When asked what he was most pleased about during the week, Kyrgios immediately replied “my professionalism”; an intriguing response considering his only other noteworthy success this year (victory in Acapulco) ran synonymously with late-night boozing and early-morning jet skiing. Yet certain occasions betrayed just how badly Kyrgios wanted the win this week; how he regained his composure after an all-too-familiar second-set meltdown against Tsitsipas, as well as fighting off back spasms in the final to win a crucial first-set tiebreak against Medvedev.
For Kyrgios, this week is a prime example of how he can still stay true to himself by playing his natural game on the court whilst attaining significant success. He said as much in his post-final press conference, stating “I’ve beaten every single of the best tennis players in the world doing it my way, I’m never going to stop doing that”. First and foremost, Kyrgios is an entertainer. The Washington crowd were treated to the standard program (underarm serves, hotdogs etc), as well as slightly unique instances; for example, Kyrgios asking a member of the crowd where he should serve for each of his quarter-final, semi-final and final (Yes, really) match-points. Whether it is this, or something so inconsequential as not taking part in the pre-match coin toss, Kyrgios revels in being different, and in a sport where each and every player is single-mindedly gunning for the same end, this is no bad thing. However, this week clearly shows Kyrgios will continue to strive and achieve similar objectives to his fellow professionals.
It would be easy to completely zero in on Kyrgios but others contributed their fair share of drama and high-quality tennis this week. Daniil Medvedev continues to go from strength to strength in reaching his third final of 2019, often resembling a rotating wall from the back of the court as he ground his opponents into submission. Special mention must go to Peter Gojowczyk, a German lucky loser who started the week outside the top 100 with just 6 tour wins to his name all season, not only for making the semi-finals, but for defeating top quality opponents such as De Minaur, Raonic and Edmund on the way. He would be characterised as a streaky player, but displayed the extent of what he can produce when his game clicks into place. Finally, anyone watching Washington through the week could not fail to notice “shoegate” – a seemingly random and yet reoccurring phenomena of Stefanos Tsitsipas’s shoelaces breaking during his matches. Tsitsipas, who was a decent way off his best, might be glad that his notoriety stemmed from footwear issues as opposed to the level he was at, but these incidents incited irritation from his 3rd round opponent Thompson, anger from his quarter-final foe Paire, and from Kyrgios… nothing but a smile and a joke. Perhaps this is evidence of his ameliorating professionalism. For next week though, Tsitsipas might want to switch to Velcro.
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