Last night Nick Kygrios showed that right now he arguably has the most explosive and best serve in the game. This is quiet a claim considering other power houses out there such as Kevin Anderson, Milos Raonic and John Isner. But then the stats don't lie and neither does the fact his serve is guiding him somewhat precariously through the rounds at the Cincinnati Masters.
But before I get onto the subject about the Kygrios serve I thought now was a rather fitting time to evaluate both next gen player's success so far since turning professional.
Kygrios and Coric have both won ATP titles since turning professional which is good news. The longer you go on in your career without winning even a tour title the more this will hamper your ability to climb into the top 10 in the world and stay there. It has a big psychological effect on your game. So as a young player it is very important to claim your first ATP title as soon as possible.
As far as rankings go, these two players are in the top 3 young players in the world and both have a lot of talent for the future. Kygrios has 2 years more experience than Coric and thus has 2 more ATP titles than him.
Top Next Generation Players by Titles Won:
(1) Alexander Zverev: (21 Years Old): 6 ATP Titles, 3 ATP Masters Titles
(2) Nick Kyrgios: (23 Years Old): 4 ATP Titles
(3) Borna Coric: (21 Years Old): 2 ATP Titles
(3) Karen Khachanov: (22 Years Old): 2 ATP Titles
(4) Andrey Rublev: (20 Years Old): 1 ATP Title
(4) Daniil Medvedev: (22 Years Old): 1 ATP Title
(4) Francis Tiafoe: (20 Years Old): 1 ATP Title
As you can see Zverev has excelled way beyond any other young player right now and he is the most likely to win his first Grand Slam out of all of the young players. Having said that he actually was defeated last night by Robin Hasse in three sets, it was the upset of the round! So he clearly has a lot of work to do if he hopes to win a slam in the next three to four years.
If Kyrgios can sort out his injuries (and his head on court!) getting his body back into balance he also has a chance of winning a future slam, especially because he has one of the best serves in the business.
When Kyrgios is focused it's not surprising or unusual for him to rack up a whole game of aces leaving his opponent demoralised. But his mental game still needs much work, he can become distracted and demoralised himself for no real reason.
Kyrgios Gets Revenge on Coric from Two Years Ago
Nick Kygrios who is still suffering from an aggravated knee does not have full mobility but it didn't stop him exacting revenge on Coric who he met 2 years ago in Cincinatti where he lost 2-1 in sets.
No one serves like Kyrgios Does...
Kyrgios has the most explosive serve in tennis, it's a simple a fact. There are many big servers out there but none are quiet as loose and explosive as Kyrgios. Last night he put down 16 aces to Coric's 10 in order to win the match. His aces and service game in general were the big difference between him and Coric.
When you have a service game like Kyrgios you have a chance of beating anyone, simply if you keep your first service percentage high enough your in with a chance. Also Kyrgios on many occasions hit's aces on his 2nd serve. He rarely serves a slow second serve - this can make breaking him very difficult at times but on some occassions means he pretty much breaks himself due to the high risk factor.
Blink and You'll Miss It!
Coric broke him twice last night in the second set showing that he's no lightweight himself. Kyrgios put his heart and soul into winning the first set giving away not a single break opportunity to Coric, where as Kyrgios had two break opportunites on Coric's serve. He ran away with the first set tie break to draw first blood.
With a lack of mobility he tanked in the second set allowing Coric 8 break points that lead to the young Croat taking the set 6-0! A betting man would have thrown his weight behind Coric at this point to go on and win the match comfortably.
He's Alive, Kyrgios Picks Himself Back Up in the Third!
But remarkably Kyrgios picked himself back up in the third set and took his only break point chance against Coric where as he shut the door on Coric quickly when it came to his own single break point chance in the 7th game. After that there was only going to be one winner in this match.
Likely to Face the Argentinian Giant in the Next Round
Kyrgios awaits the winner between world number 3 Del Potro and Korea's Hyeon Chung. I cannot see Hyeon Chung getting past Del Potro's forehand, the young Korean has had a very up and down year since coming back from injury and was lucky to face an injured Jack Sock in the previous round.
Ironically Del Potro is actually a more suitable opponent for Kygrios given his knee injury. He has less mobility on court than Chung and slices his back hand a great deal meaning Kygrios will not have to move so much on court himself to win points against Del Potro. Chung would just be one too many gruelling encounters for Kygrios but facing Del Potro may just work to his favour given his physical condition.
The two have never met at an ATP or Grand Slam tournament so I will definitely be looking forward to this match up.
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