By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Australian Open fans flock to Nick Kyrgios matches for the show.
Kyrgios conjured trick-shot artistry snapping a five-match losing streak in style in his AO return.
More: Gritty Murray Earns First AO Win Since 2017
Setting the tone with the underarm between the legs serve, Kyrgios erupted with exclamation point smashes and whispered drop shots treating fans to the trick-shot spectrum and Liam Broady to the spectacle in a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 first-round win.
A battle with asthma and Coronavirus knocked Kyrgios out of planned warm-up tournaments in Melbourne and Sydney so he stepped on court as one of only 14 men in the field without a single match this season. Kyrgios doesn't exactly ease his way into things as you can see:
If you thought the circus left town when world No. 1 Novak Djokovic departed, then you haven't seen Kyrgios perform on John Cain Arena. Kyrgios combined Harlem Globetrotters trickery with NBA Slam Dunk competition athleticism and street-ball bravado crunching 41 winners, including 21 aces, and saving the only break point he faced in a slick one hour, 54-minute triumph.
The 115th-ranked Kyrgios says there's a method to the mayhem: make the British qualifier feel the presence and added pressure from engaged Aussie fans.
"I think that's something I have kind of created on that court," Kyrgios told the media in Melbourne. "They know what to expect. First game against Thiem last year when I broke, you know, the court went into an absolute berserk state."
Captain Chaos Kyrgios fueled up on crowd energy.
"I think from the get-go, I know I've got the crowd in the palm of my hand, and any time I can use that to, you know, spark a moment or spark some energy," Kyrgios said. "You know, obviously Liam is a great player but his experience on that court in that situation, when the crowd is going nuts, he has never experienced that before, hence the reason why on breakpoints I'm trying to get the crowd up, get him to feel the pressure a little bit more."
The Kyrgios circus runs into the Russian Bear as the Aussie faces the highest-ranked man in the field, world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, in what could be a highly-entertaining second-rounder. Kyrgios has won both prior matches vs. Medvedev, including an electric 7-6, 7-6 decision in the 2019 Washington DC final, however he knows this is a much more commanding Medvedev.
The red-hot Russian could simply overwhelm Kyrgios, who is short on match play earning his first win since beating Kevin Anderson in Atlanta last summer, and suffering suspect conditioning after the battle with COVID-19 and asthma. Kyrgios is lobbying to play the Medvedev match on the Cain court he's lovingly retitled "Kyrgios Court" though that's unlikely to happen given US Open champion's status as top contender to take his first AO title.
"I mean, obviously either way it's going to be a hell of an experience for me. You know, he's probably "the" best player in the world at the moment," Kyrgios said of Medvedev. "So I'm pretty excited, I'm excited for that moment. That's why I play the game.
"I feel like those matches still excite me, to go out there and play the best in the world. That was always something I wanted to prove to people that someone like me could do, win those matches. I'm not going to go into it with a lot of expectation. I'm going to go out there, have some fun, play my game. I have a pretty set-in-stone game plan of what I need to do to have success.
"As I said, he's probably the best player in the world, he does everything extremely well. He's a hard worker, ticks all the boxes. I'm not going to even think about that now. To play it on John Cain would be -- I'm just going to call it the Kyrgios Court -- would be fun."
Photo credit: Getty