A winning Thiem has respect of Kyrgios
IN the dying stages of Nick Kyrgios’ media conference on Wednesday night there was a prescient line about his Australian Open third-round opponent Dominic Thiem.
Thiem’s now an established member of the tier-one tennis crew: not just a top-five star, but a three-times grand slam finalist who broke through for his first major at last year’s US Open.
The Austrian also stands between Kyrgios and his fourth trip to the last 16 at the Australian Open.
Thiem’s been inside the world’s best 20 players since 2015 and it’s been a gradual ascension since, but he wasn’t an overnight sensation out of juniors.
“He’s probably one of the most physical guys on tour. He’s an extremely good player,” Kyrgios said of Thiem.
“He’s a bit older than I am, (but) I actually saw him in juniors, then I saw him struggle for a couple of years – Futures, ‘Challies’ (Challengers) – and then to see him get to the top of the game.
“It’s been pretty cool to see him develop and finally find what he needs to do to win matches. He trains like an absolute animal and he’s consistent every day. I actually have a lot of respect for him.
“His style of tennis is not easy to play. He’s super physical … I’m just hurting thinking about playing him right now.”
Kyrgios will never be accused of being an “animal” on the practice court, but is he, too, figuring it all out?
That question’s been asked repeatedly over the years, and is worth pondering again, given Wednesday night’s extraordinary circumstances his win over Ugo Humbert.
Kyrgios spoke of “experience” getting him across the line, and his willingness to patiently hang in rallies from metres behind the baseline on occasion was a welcome sight.
Off court, Thiem and Kyrgios have sparked a few headlines, but nothing of great significance. They even shared a “naughty” night out in Acapulco. Another time, Kyrgios effectively labelled Thiem as boring in a late-night Instagram streamed chat with Andy Murray, saying “I like to get good vibes from trying a new cocktail ... he’d prefer to watch paint dry”.
He was critical, too, of Thiem’s stance last year of not wanting to financially support the tour battlers during the COVID-19 shutdown. Thiem also featured in Djokovic’s Adria Tour, which Kyrgios took objection to, but later admitted their party behaviour during the pandemic was “a mistake”. All that aside, it’s clear last year’s Australian Open runnerup has Kyrgios’ admiration.
“He’s one of the best players in the world, so he’s for sure going to be able to rise to that occasion,” he said. “He’s not going to be scared about it. He’s excited. That’s what makes him so good. He’s one of the players that loves to thrives in big-match situations.
“You’re not going to make grand slam finals and win slams if you’re going to be scared of a little bit of an Aussie crowd.”