London (AFP)
Kyrgios may become the most controversial winner at Wimbledon, the third grand slam in tennis, when the troubled and moody Australian faces Novak Djokovic in the final tomorrow.
At the age of 27, Kyrgios is playing the first grand slam final of his career, while Djokovic hopes to win his 21st major title and reduce the gap with Spanish record holder Rafael Nadal (22), who retired before the semi-final once morest Kyrgios due to injury.
Over the years, Kyrgios matches have witnessed quarrels, objections, controversies and insults with players, referees, media and fans, and he was subjected to heavy fines of nearly half a million dollars.
After reaching the final without playing, as a result of Nadal’s injury, Britain’s Daily Telegraph asked if he represented Wimbledon’s “worst nightmare”.
Kyrgios was a headliner both inside and outside the All England Club, and in an offensive version, he hit 120 aces, 292 winning balls, the second fastest serve (220 km/h), and was only broken six times.
But he was fined $14,000, spitting in the crowd’s direction, while Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who lost to him in the third round, criticized his “evil side”.
“He bullies competitors,” said the Greek. “Maybe he was a bully in school. I don’t like bullies. I don’t like people who degrade others.” He has some good character as well, but he also has a very evil side, which if revealed He can cause a lot of harm and misfortune to the people around him.
Kyrgios also has the additional distraction of appearing in an Australian court next month on assault charges.
“To be honest, I never thought of being here and I’m proud and ready for the challenge,” Kyrgios said.
Kyrgios said his win or loss silenced his critics: “Since I was born, only eight people have won the title. I will give my best.”
When Djokovic organized the Adria Tour Tournament during the “Covid-19” pandemic, Kyrgios accused him of “lack of leadership and humility”, and described the Serb’s exaggerated celebrations following a match as disrespectful.
Djokovic replied last year: “Off the field, I don’t have much respect for him, to be honest.”
But Kyrgios was among the few who supported Djokovic during his crisis in the Australian Championship at the beginning of the year, when he was deported for not accepting vaccination once morest the Corona virus, and Kyrgios said: “There is no doubt that we are on good terms now, which is strange, and we exchange direct messages on Instagram and other things At the beginning of the week, he wrote to me, “I hope we meet on Sunday.”
Kyrgios won his only two matches with Djokovic, without losing a set, at Acapulco and Indian Wells 2017.
If he is crowned, he will become the third unranked player to lift the title following German Boris Becker in 1985 and Croatian Goran Ivanishvic in 2001.
As for Djokovic, he is in his eighth final at Wimbledon, looking for his seventh title on the London green, to equal the American Pete Sampras and reduce the difference to a title with the Swiss legend Roger Federer.
Noli, who beat Britain’s Cameron Norrie by four sets in the semi-finals, acknowledged the improvement of the relationship with the troublemaker Kyrgios, “Of course we have a better relationship compared to the period before January this year.” They supported me in public, I appreciated this step very much, I respect him very much for what he did.
Djokovic, ranked third in the world, believes that his experience may play a role in front of the 40th seed, who did not previously exceed the quarter-finals of the major tournaments in Wimbledon 2014 and Australia the following year, and he said: But he is a great player, his best tennis was in front of the big players, so we all respect him, because we know What awaits us in front of him, I am happy that he reached the final because he has a great talent.
