Novak Djokovic identified a moment in the Wimbledon final that he believed was the loss of Nick Kyrgios. (Photo by Visionhaus / Getty Images)
Novak Djokovic never wanted to live four words from his post-match interview after his Wimbledon victory over Nick Kyrgios to live on in the minds of tennis fans.
There was, of course, much more to the story, but it wasn’t necessarily wrong that the 21-time Grand Slam winner signaled a crucial moment at the end of the second set that ended up being the biggest momentum change of the match.
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Kyrgios had the 40-0 lead in their 4-4 serve in the third set – one more point and would walk away from a crucial third set win, after winning the first in an impressive way.
Up to this point, Kyrgios had equalized Djokovic on almost every turn, when remarkably, the Serbian star turned to his box.
Normally, Kyrgios could be expected to use this tactic to shoot himself, but instead Djokovic got a winner to take him to 40-15.
Three unforced errors from Kyrgios would follow, including a rare double foul, which gave both the break and apparently the mental advantage to Djokovic.
Kyrgios had already embroidered once in his box, while getting two breaks in the second set, but it was the third set change that Djokovic identified as the most important moment of the match.
“That 40-0 game, he would probably be very upset with himself for having lost that game,” Djokovic said.
“I didn’t win it, he lost that game with his unforced mistakes. I stayed there, pushed him to the limit and got the reward. “
However, to suggest that a match was the time when Kyrgios lost an exciting Wimbledon final to Djokovic (4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6) would do a poor service to the Australian.
Djokovic points to the key moment in Kyrgios’ defeat at Wimbledon
While his performance against Djokovic was nothing to be ashamed of, Kyrgios ’mental game was taken advantage of by the former world number one.
Djokovic admitted it after the match, saying he had “waited for an opportunity” to try Kyrgios on the biggest stage of his career to date.
The story goes on
“I just wanted to practice to get my services back and finally wait for the opportunity. And he showed up,” Djokovic said.
“He played a couple of loose points, a double foul against two, he started talking to his team. Then I felt that maybe this was the time when I could break his service, which happened.
“I think it was a big change of momentum because until then we were pretty evenly matched. Two sets to one, things look slightly different.”
Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic will fall in the world rankings even though they both reach the Wimbledon final. (Photo by Visionhaus / Getty Images)
Knowing that even Djokovic saw that Kyrgios had gone face to face with him would be a sting, but it shouldn’t take much away from the controversial and impressive Australian run to the final.
Unfortunately for Kyrgios, frustrations will not end in defeat.
The ATP and WTA’s well-intentioned move to eliminate points from the standings at Wimbledon this year has caused him, Djokovic and several other prominent players to fall into the standings due to points deductions that still exist. .
Djokovic has dropped from third to No. 7 in the world a day after winning an incredible seventh Wimbledon crown.
Equally ridiculous is Kyrgios falling from 40th to 45th in the world after reaching his first grand slam final.
The ranking fiasco threatens to cost Kyrgios a very important position for the last major of the year, the US Open which will start in New York on August 29th.
Normally, Kyrgios would have risen to number 15 in the world for his career at Wimbledon, placing him in a position to claim a ranking among the top 16 finishers at Flushing Meadows.
With AAP
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