In many ways, a Wimbledon final is the ultimate occasion for the establishment. It brings together members of the royal family, heads of state, Hollywood stars and beloved champions of the past. Kyrgios, however, despises traditional protocol so much that in a few moments of his fourth-round win over Brandon Nakashima, he switched to a red cap to ignore the whites ’rule. Just thinking that accepting the Duchess of Cambridge’s Golden Challenge Cup is enough to make the members of the members ’balcony bite their strawberries.
It is true that it is a struggle to imagine Kyrgios, the victor, being taken upstairs for the obligatory little talk with the future king and queen. As anyone who has dared to question him in these Championships will testify, he usually does not bother with kindness. He reduced a press conference to a rant about those who officiated his parties with bad eyesight, while closing a perfectly reasonable question about his violation of the dress code with the words, “You do it, champion.” Unlike Nadal or Roger Federer, or his potential rival Novak Djokovic, deference is not his forte.
The mind does not know what Kyrgios has planned in case he wins on Sunday
While the likely end between Kyrgios and Djokovic is the manna of the sky for TV executives, the prospect will put Wimbledon at the limit. Over the years, confronting Kyrgios with the Serb has been like throwing baking soda into a vinegar bath. In 2019, the terrible child of Australia called Djokovic “worthy of the left”, alleging that he had a “sickly obsession with wanting them to like him”. Mocking his post-victory habit of spreading love to every corner of the court, Kyrgios sang, “If I play with him and win him, I make his celebration in front of him. That would be fun. “
Wimbledon is unlikely to find it so comical. Although there has been a thaw between the two lately: the Australian even sided with Djokovic in his row of shots in January, threatening to “walk through Melbourne Park with my Novak mask on”. – Kyrgios remains a dangerously unpredictable finalist. Where Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer, who have shared 16 of the last 18 Wimbledon titles with each other, understand the art of being respectful, Kyrgios delights in his casting as a disruptor. The mind is baffled about what he has planned in case he wins, especially with a Netflix team in tow.
This 135th edition of Wimbledon has already been unusually loaded, disfigured by lower attendances than usual, the withdrawal of points from the world rankings due to the ban on Russian and Belarusian players, and even a fight between security guards. . But Christmas’s decision to move away from the semifinals to protect his body could still open a new front of discord, with Kyrgios in the final. Although Wimbledon resisted the prospect of presenting the trophy to Dannil Medvedev, they could still be forced to glorify the most mercurial and polarizing player of all. It marks, perhaps, a suitably chaotic ending to a tournament like no other.