After an almost perfect first set, Nick Kyrgios lost the plot after clashing with his team and a fan whom he accused of being drunk.
The Wimbledon audience is having all the experience of Nick Kyrgios in the 2022 men’s final.
After an almost perfect first set of tennis saw his dreams of lifting the Wimbledon trophy skyrocket, the Australian became a frustrated and distracted mess in the second and third sets when Novak Djokovic went ahead 4-6 6 -3 6-4.
The fourth set will be decided with a tiebreaker.
The 27-year-old Canberra player is playing his first Grand Slam final while Djokovic is trying to win his 21st.
“Excellent pissing” on an amazing first set
If Kyrgios does nothing else in his tennis career, he will always be able to look back on the first set of the 2022 Wimbledon final and smile.
The Australian produced one of the most amazing tennis displays ever seen on the center court to snatch Novak Djokovic’s first goal 6-4. And he did it in style.
Second-service aces, armpit sacks, tweeners, a shot where he shifted the racket from right to left: Kyrgios showed off his bag full of tricks to leave the audience stunned.
Djokovic was shocked. The Serb committed a double foul to regain the crucial break in the fifth game and then was a participant while Kyrgios rained bomb after bomb on him.
There were several games in which the best player in the history of men’s tennis could not win a single point, so good was the accuracy, power and variety of Kyrgios.
The stage seemed set for Kyrgios to become the first Australian male to win a Grand Slam since Lleyton Hewitt in 2002.
‘Say something!’: Kyrgios loses argument in the second set
Djokovic struggled to lose the first two sets in his quarterfinals and the first set in his semifinals, so it was no surprise to see him break up at the start of the second set.
Kyrgios had shown his first signs of agitation in the change of ends after the third game, tweeting to his squad to wonder why he had to ask for support.
He followed that complaint by playing a normal match and was left behind 3-1 while Djokovic looked to equalize the match.
Kyrgios was still ahead with Djokovic’s serve, but couldn’t get as far as a break point as the second set began to slip away with the 5-2 lead.
But suddenly he had three.
The Canberra native put the audience on their feet by chasing a shot from Djokovic and throwing a winner through the net when he found himself with three break points at 0-40.
But he broke all three of them – and a quarter after the game went to two – as unforced errors took their toll.
Kyrgios got to the boiling point with his team, standing and calling them after each point while Djokovic equalized the match.
“Say something!” he roared. “It’s 0-40. My ten! It’s 0-40!”
‘700 cups’: The outbursts continue in the third set
The outbursts continued in the third set when Kyrgios called for a spectator to be sent off the stands after holding the serve in the fifth game.
The Australian told the chair referee that a fan had called twice between the first and second service.
“It distracts me when I’m serving in a Wimbledon final,” Kyrgios begged. “There’s no bigger chance. You didn’t believe me. And he did it again. It almost cost me the game.
“Why is he still here? He’s drunk out of his mind in the front row, talking to me in the middle of a game. What’s acceptable? Nothing is acceptable? So get her out!”
He was asked to point it out.
“I know exactly what it is,” Kyrgios told the chair referee. “She’s the one who seems to have drunk about 700 drinks, brother.”
The wreck continued in the ninth game, when Kyrgios took a 40-0 lead to give up the service. He made a double foul on two before hitting a setback in the middle of the net to give the Serb a 5-4 lead.
He caused another explosion to his team due to his apparent failure to continue to support him properly.
“Why do you stop? 40-0, 40-15 and relax! Why? “He called to them.
Djokovic wasn’t exactly in top form on the other side of the net, but he kept his cool to serve the set.
The match hardens in the fourth set
Kyrgios kept trying to force their way through on the right side and Djokovic got his chance after 80 minutes, but the home side’s defense held their position and stopped the attack.
The Serb only made an unforced error in the first eight games of the fourth set for not giving Kyrgios any chance of a break.
But the Australian continued to do enough in the service to force a tiebreaker.
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