Australian Open: Fast courts suit Kyrgios ahead of blockbuster against 'super physical' Thiem

By Sports Desk February 11, 2021

Nick Kyrgios has the weapons to overcome the "super physical" Dominic Thiem at the Australian Open on Friday.

The eccentric Australian continued to excite at Melbourne Park with a five-set win over Ugo Humbert in the second round, saving two match points.

Kyrgios, 25, is into the third round of a grand slam for the 15th time in his career, but it has been a difficult hurdle for him to cross. He is 6-8 in the third round of majors, although three of those wins – and just one loss – have come at the Australian Open.

While he has all the weapons, Kyrgios faces third seed Thiem, the US Open champion and last year's runner-up in Melbourne.

"He's probably one of the most physical guys on tour. He's an extremely good player. I have actually seen him progress. He's a bit older than I am. I actually saw him in juniors and then I saw him struggle for a couple years, futures, challies, and then to see him get to the top of the game. It's been actually pretty cool to see him develop and finally find what he needs to do to win matches," Kyrgios said about Thiem after overcoming Humbert.

"He trains like an absolute animal. He's consistent every day. And I actually have a lot of respect for him. I think his style of tennis is not easy to play. He's super physical, but I'm not even thinking about it. Like, I'm just hurting thinking about playing him right now."

He added: "Whatever happens against Thiem happens. I'm going to go out there, serve, play with instinct, and if it's enough, it's enough. If it isn't, I'm all right with that."

With much of the talk at the year's first major focused on the fast courts, Kyrgios' serve will be vital.

The Australian has seen 50 per cent of his first serves in the opening two rounds go unreturned, with 44 aces. He has also served at 72 per cent and won 81 per cent of the points when his first serve has gone in.

Thiem has recorded wins over Mikhail Kukushkin and Dominik Koepfer to begin the tournament, winning 13 of 27 return games. Kyrgios has won eight of 42 return games.

Kyrgios has been among the men more willing to serve and volley to begin the event, playing 26 such points and winning 16. He has also won 39 of 55 net points, while Thiem is an impressive 31 of 36.

Novak Djokovic is among those who have talked about the fast courts at Melbourne Park this year, and the world number one said that would suit the big servers. Thiem said he had never played on courts as fast at a grand slam so far in his career.

"I prefer last year's courts, if I could choose. It's pretty fast, as I said the days before. It's probably one of the fastest grand slam tournaments I've played so far," he said. "Well, we have to get used to it, yes. But if I have to choose, I would choose the last year's condition."

The opportunity is there for the big-hitting Kyrgios, but he will need to be at his best.

Related items

  • Manchester United 2-3 Nottingham Forest: Wood hits winner as Amorim's side lose again Manchester United 2-3 Nottingham Forest: Wood hits winner as Amorim's side lose again

    Manchester United suffered back-to-back defeats in the Premier League following a 3-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford. 

    Chris Wood's 10th league goal of the season in the 54th minute proved to be the winner as Forest climbed to fifth place – only two points behind fourth-placed Manchester City. 

    Nikola Milenkovic put the visitors ahead with only 91 seconds on the clock as he headed in a corner from Elliot Anderson, but Rasmus Hojlund levelled the score for United 16 minutes later, following up after Alejandro Garnacho's initial effort was saved by Matz Sels. 

    Jota Silva and Bruno Fernandes were denied by the woodwork during the first half before Morgan Gibbs-White made it 2-1 to Forest just two minutes after the restart.

    Wood then planted a looping header past Andre Onana to double Forest's lead before United captain Fernandes then pulled one back just past the hour mark.

    Ruben Amorim's side pushed for an equaliser, but Forest kept them at bay to collect the full points. 

    Forest now have 25 points from 15 matches, while United are in 13th place with 19 points.

    Data Debrief: Wood makes Forest history

    Wood's winner was his 25th Premier League goal for Forest and helped him overtake Bryan Roy (24) to become their all-time leading scorer in the competition.

    Since Nuno Espírito Santo's appointment in December 2023, only Erling Haaland (21) has scored more non-penalty goals in the competition than Wood (19 – level with Cole Palmer). 

    Nuno became just the second Forest manager to win both of his first two league games against United, after Fred Earp in the 1909-10 campaign.

    Meanwhile, his counterpart Amorim suffered two straight defeats for only the second time, with the first coming during his stint with former club Sporting in August 2022. 

  • Crystal Palace 2-2 Manchester City: Lewis equaliser rescues a point for Guardiola's side Crystal Palace 2-2 Manchester City: Lewis equaliser rescues a point for Guardiola's side

    Crystal Palace and Manchester City shared the points in an entertaining 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

    It was a result that extended the reigning champions’ winless away run to four league matches, while they have now won just one of their last nine matches in all competitions.

    Palace caused Pep Guardiola’s side plenty of problems and merited a point that continues their recent upturn in form.

    Daniel Munoz gave the hosts the lead inside four minutes, slotting past City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega from a Will Hughes pass.

    But Erling Haaland ended a three-game Premier League goal drought and equalised for the visitors with a header after 31 minutes. 

    The two sides also shared a goal apiece in the second half, with Maxence Lacroix and Rico Lewis both hitting the target. 

    Lewis, meanwhile, was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 84th minute, just when City had finally wrestled control of the game.

    But neither side were able to find a winner and following the draw, City remain fourth in the Premier League and eight points behind leaders Liverpool. Crystal Palace, meanwhile, climbed a place to 16th and are four points above the bottom three.

    Data Debrief: City's away jitters continue

    City went into the game having lost their last five games on the road in all competitions, and their poor away form did not improve after dropping two more points at Selhurst Park. 

    Guardiola's side have also conceded twice in each of their last four away fixtures.  The visitors generated an xG of 1.41 from 12 attempts, which is only slightly better than the xG of 1.3 that Palace had from the same number of attempts.

    Though Guardiola's side had four shots on target, one more than the hosts, they failed to find a winner and settled for the point. 

    Palace, meanwhile, are undefeated in their last four games in the Premier League. 

  • Aston Villa 1-0 Southampton: Duran seals back-to-back wins for Emery's side Aston Villa 1-0 Southampton: Duran seals back-to-back wins for Emery's side

    Jhon Duran scored the only goal as Aston Villa edged out the Premier League's bottom side Southampton 1-0.

    The Colombian's first-half strike was enough to seal a hard-fought win for Unai Emery's side, who climbed to fifth in the table after back-to-back victories at Villa Park.

    Villa, who ended an eight-match winless streak across all competitions with victory over Brentford on Wednesday, broke through in the 24th minute.

    Duran – making his first Premier League start of the season – stole possession from Taylor Harwood-Bellis and burst away from Nathan Wood, before bending the ball into the net.

    Southampton could not respond, failing to register a single shot on target, as their winless streak on the road in the top flight stretched to 15 matches.

    With Brighton and Fulham not playing until Sunday – and Nottingham Forest in action later on Saturday – Villa leapfrogged the trio to fifth place on 25 points – 20 more than their opponents, who remain seven adrift at the foot of the table.

    Data Debrief: A rare clean sheet for Villa

    Villa's first Premier League home win without conceding since a 2-0 victory over Wolves in March moves them to within two points of the top four.

    It was only a second clean sheet in 20 league games for Emery's side, who are unbeaten in their 12 matches against promoted teams under the Spaniard.

    Duran settled the contest with his sixth goal from outside the box since the start of last season, a tally only bettered in the Premier League by Manchester City's Phil Foden (eight).

    Following their latest setback, Southampton are just the fourth side to have five or fewer points after 15 games in a Premier League season, after Sunderland (five in 2005-06), and Sheffield United twice (five in 2023-24 and two in 2020-21).

© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.