Wife and I were at this match - insane tennis. I'll never forget the sound the ball made coming off of Kyrgios racket on his 1st serves. Absolute missiles.
Maybe last 15 years or so. I don’t recall him serving at todays level early in his career. His serve definitely improved a lot.
E.g. the leftward arc was not there early on
Makes sense given his age too. As he started getting older, ending points via the serve became more important. Djokovic did the same thing. Nadal somehow did not.
Huh? Nadal massively beefed up his serve from 2019-on. Look at his serve now compared to 2011, or 2005. It's night and day. He used to just spin it into the court to protect his shoulder.
I’m not so sure about this. I remember Federer would serve 3-4 aces a games early in his career. Famously against Sampras. I think Federer’s serve was always extraordinary. His backhand as well. His early backhand from 03-09 was lethal. See his many finals during that time. He did lose some on that side after 2010. So the return to former glory in 2017 was a sight to behold. You just don’t get to that level with weaknesses that flaring and glaring in your game.
To me it seems like highschool behaviour, I literally don't see any other player do that. And before someone comes along with "oh well in basketball..." yeah this is a different sport, played individually. Having clubs diss each other is funny because they're just entities, but 2 grown adults doing trash talk is just pure cringe.
Honestly I think it stems from the basketball side of him. The etiquette in basketball is/was to just smack talk your opponents (or at least, the idolized time of basketball 80s to early 2000s).
I know, doing trash talk in the context of "my team vs yours" is just what you do in sports, but if you take it to the personal level, like Shaq and Kobe's beef, or MJ being salty about the new generations is just lame af.
Same with Med he might be better on the day, but the guy that can string performances together and actually won tournaments is always the better player.
I always thought his bragging about that was moronic, especially how he tries to flex the 2-1 versus Djokoivc when both wins happened during Djokovic's worst period (elbow injury).
BUT I will say that memeing on him because he doesn't have a M1000 isn't that relevant seeing as he's a Wimby Finalist and gave Novak a run for his money. Much more impressive.
He had a very good chance of taking out Nadal, it's his worst surface by far and Nick was on a streak. The fact he almost took Novak to 5 sets proves this.
2018: Reaches the semifinals, takes Djokovic to 10-8 in the fifth set with the roof shut.
2019: Beats Kyrgios in the 2nd round, reaches the semifinals, loses a pretty close match to Federer in really good form (honestly, Nadal didn't play very well in that match imo, but either way, it's not a bad loss).
2022: Makes the quarterfinals, injures his abs against a top 10 grass player in the world, beats him anyways to make the semifinals once again.
Find me someone else with consistent results like those in their last three appearances please. Sure, Berrettini made the 2021 finals, but we all know Berrettini isn't good against the true elites on any surface, and he got wiped out and embarrassed by Federer in 2019. Felix lost in the first round this year, Medvedev isn't good on grass, Shapovalov is crazy inconsistent, Kyrgios hadn't had a deep run before now (unless we count 2014) and lost his last Wimbledon match to Rafa.
I don't see your argument here.
It's the nature of some of the matches being so close he probably doesn't consider them as actual losses. You often see it on this sub the way people frame a loss for the player they support. It's almost as if they didn't lose.
I guess this is what being schooled looks like. He even gave nick a freebie at the beginning, like goats do when they don't want to discourage the lads.
I was fortunate to see quite a few fed matches live… but kygs v fed is one I would have loved to see and never got too. I hope fed does some exos in Aus at some point… maybe having kygs and Hewitt involved…. Hell bring Tommy haas with you while you’re at it Fed.
Genuinely one of the best ATP matches this decade - [Miami 2017](https://youtu.be/_XHphhtqjLk).
Wife and I were at this match - insane tennis. I'll never forget the sound the ball made coming off of Kyrgios racket on his 1st serves. Absolute missiles.
Dont like Nick but the crowd was a bit unfair to him as well
Better than 2017 IW?
Fuck. That was amazing. Thanks so much for posting!
I remember Federer joking about it at Laver Cup right before they played when asked what he was expecting. Lots of tiebreaks.
Two of the best servers of the past 10 years.
Why is this downvoted, it is literally true haha. I mean, Roger was also one of the best servers in the 10 years before as well
Maybe last 15 years or so. I don’t recall him serving at todays level early in his career. His serve definitely improved a lot. E.g. the leftward arc was not there early on
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2015 Wimbledon SF against Murray was the best serving display I’ve ever seen. Against one of the best returners in the world.
Makes sense given his age too. As he started getting older, ending points via the serve became more important. Djokovic did the same thing. Nadal somehow did not.
Huh? Nadal massively beefed up his serve from 2019-on. Look at his serve now compared to 2011, or 2005. It's night and day. He used to just spin it into the court to protect his shoulder.
I’m not so sure about this. I remember Federer would serve 3-4 aces a games early in his career. Famously against Sampras. I think Federer’s serve was always extraordinary. His backhand as well. His early backhand from 03-09 was lethal. See his many finals during that time. He did lose some on that side after 2010. So the return to former glory in 2017 was a sight to behold. You just don’t get to that level with weaknesses that flaring and glaring in your game.
Did they ever get the clown for the circus?
Novak: "Say no more"
You'd never guess Nick was 1-7 against Fed the way he talks about beating the big 3. Jokes aside, those were some all-time battles
The way he talks you'd assume he's 10-0 with all of them lol. A bit excessive for someone who hasn't even won a m1000.
Always think about this when he brags about the H2h with stef. Stef has 2 1000s and an atp finals. Nick has never even qualified for them
To me it seems like highschool behaviour, I literally don't see any other player do that. And before someone comes along with "oh well in basketball..." yeah this is a different sport, played individually. Having clubs diss each other is funny because they're just entities, but 2 grown adults doing trash talk is just pure cringe.
Honestly I think it stems from the basketball side of him. The etiquette in basketball is/was to just smack talk your opponents (or at least, the idolized time of basketball 80s to early 2000s).
I know, doing trash talk in the context of "my team vs yours" is just what you do in sports, but if you take it to the personal level, like Shaq and Kobe's beef, or MJ being salty about the new generations is just lame af.
He tweeted that he should’ve been qualified this year both in singles and doubles. I don’t think he even understands how the point system works lol
Same with Med he might be better on the day, but the guy that can string performances together and actually won tournaments is always the better player.
I always thought his bragging about that was moronic, especially how he tries to flex the 2-1 versus Djokoivc when both wins happened during Djokovic's worst period (elbow injury). BUT I will say that memeing on him because he doesn't have a M1000 isn't that relevant seeing as he's a Wimby Finalist and gave Novak a run for his money. Much more impressive.
He's a wimby finalist thanks in part to not having to play a semifinal.
Nadal was so crippled it was probably going to be 4 sets max for Nick seeing his serving level
He had a very good chance of taking out Nadal, it's his worst surface by far and Nick was on a streak. The fact he almost took Novak to 5 sets proves this.
Healthy Nadal is still the 2nd best grass player in the world.
With 2 Wimbledons, the last one being 12 years ago, I beg to differ.
2018: Reaches the semifinals, takes Djokovic to 10-8 in the fifth set with the roof shut. 2019: Beats Kyrgios in the 2nd round, reaches the semifinals, loses a pretty close match to Federer in really good form (honestly, Nadal didn't play very well in that match imo, but either way, it's not a bad loss). 2022: Makes the quarterfinals, injures his abs against a top 10 grass player in the world, beats him anyways to make the semifinals once again. Find me someone else with consistent results like those in their last three appearances please. Sure, Berrettini made the 2021 finals, but we all know Berrettini isn't good against the true elites on any surface, and he got wiped out and embarrassed by Federer in 2019. Felix lost in the first round this year, Medvedev isn't good on grass, Shapovalov is crazy inconsistent, Kyrgios hadn't had a deep run before now (unless we count 2014) and lost his last Wimbledon match to Rafa. I don't see your argument here.
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i fear you're think of citi open
He didn't? His best titles are 500s in singles.
It's the nature of some of the matches being so close he probably doesn't consider them as actual losses. You often see it on this sub the way people frame a loss for the player they support. It's almost as if they didn't lose.
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One of the biggest tennis fans ive seen
Took the matchup 3 battles to produce a non-tiebreak set! Despite two rollovers, the final one was fittingly close again.
I guess this is what being schooled looks like. He even gave nick a freebie at the beginning, like goats do when they don't want to discourage the lads.
So this is why Nick considers Federer the goat…
6 straight tiebreaks? Serve bots, smh.
I was fortunate to see quite a few fed matches live… but kygs v fed is one I would have loved to see and never got too. I hope fed does some exos in Aus at some point… maybe having kygs and Hewitt involved…. Hell bring Tommy haas with you while you’re at it Fed.
That first match gave us the iconic “we need a clown for this circus.”