Nick Kyrgios' career so far hasn't exactly been memorable for the right reasons. At the age of 24 and given the level of his talent and abilities he should have more than 5 trophies to his name. So far the Australian has 3 Atp 250 titles and 2 500 titles. He has yet to win a Masters title and the last time he came close was two years ago back in the ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati. He clearly has a lot of making up to do if he wants to make a name for himself in tennis for the right reasons.
Source - Getty Images - Nick Kyrgios
Bring Kyrgios up in conversation with any fan of the sport and temper tantrums, umpire abusing and chair tossing will come to mind before anyone even brings up his game of tennis.
In Washington yesterday he made light work of a nuisance player who has gotten under many player's skin before, the Japanese pusher Nishioka. It was good to see a Kyrgios looking disciplined and temper free whilst also producing some stunning and brutal tennis to destroy Nishioka. Perhaps the shot of the game was a tweener from the baseline that he landed on Nishioka's baseline before hammering home a flat backhand on the follow up. You can view the highlights below:
If Kyrgios can can continue that aggressive and composed play throughout the tournament he will be the clear winner in Washington. Right now he looks on course for a Semi Final meeting with Stefanos Tsitsipas. Both players look in good form in the capital.
What was notable about Nick's performance yesterday was his drop-shots were so accurate and his net player composed. Kyrgios is perhaps coming to form at the right time of year as he does favour fast hard courts.
Earlier this year Kyrgios produced a memorable performance to beat Rafa Nadal in the final in Los Cabos to clinch his second 500 title of his career. That was probably the best final Los Cabos has ever seen.
Nadal and Kyrgios aren't exactly best of tennis pals so this final was extra tense and saw Kyrgios save a match point in the final set tie break.
There is no doubt Kyrgios has the talent more so than any new generation player to win a Grand Slam should he work on his mental strength, can Washington and a series of other hard court tournaments pave the way for Kyrgios to make an attempt on the US Open or is this just wishful thinking for those few fans in Nick's corner?
Kygrios is 5.00 to win the Washington Open. While those odds are so exciting as an outsider, given his serve power and shot variety in open play he has half a chance and could be worth a bet.