Every once in a while an athlete appears on the scene of his or her selected sport in some way that brings all fans around the world to listen intently to every word spoken by or about the particular noise-making athlete through any medium available. The kind that go from a nobody to Led Zeppelin status in 25 hours or less. We converse and argue amongst ourselves as to where the athlete is headed or how they will fare against the best of the best. We compare size, strength, endurance and skill to rationalize their potential. A number 40 draft pick goes off and scores 35 points and dunks on the MVP. A 6th round NFL draft pick suddenly has to take over, winning the Super Bowl. But unlike many players in these sorts of fields of play, tennis allows room for only one, single, lonely number 1 player. No argument, no discussion. But what happens when the king of the tennis world is defeated by an unknown virtuoso in a victory distinguished by the very characteristics of which we determine an athletes potential?
The rational answer? we end up with Nick Kyrgios, AKA, Mr. Led Zeppelin himself and in just under 3 hours of play.
Nick Kyrgios is not the best tennis player in the world, he is not number 1 and he is not a champion. But let’s delve into why he has more potential than any up-and-comer to conquer all these things.
Firstly, as with all rock-stars of the sports world, the claim that “it was written in the stars” does its rounds. Kyrgios is the only teenager on the circuit to beat a number 1 at a Grand Slam since (get ready for it) the Spanish bull, Rafael Nadal himself defeated Roger Federer at the French Open in 2005. To add to that incredible feat, Nick is also the first player since 1992 outside the top 100 to defeat a world number 1 ranked player, that being Russia’s Andrei Olhovskiy (ranked 193 at the time) against the great Jim Courier at where-else but Wimbledon. Nick Kyrgios was born in 1995.
At 6’4″ and 171 lbs ( 1.93cms, 77kgs) and with the mobility of T-90 battle tank, the guy is a tennis specimen. With a serve to rival a shell fired from the military hardware I have just compared him to, he is a prototype. The breakdown of Kyrgios’s serve statistics up to and including his match with Nadal is utterly freak-worthy. A total of 37 aces to Nadal’s 11 (Kyrgios had 128 for the tournament making him 2nd most counted overall. Nadal was outside the top 20 listed), an 83% first serve points won to Nadal’s 77%, a blistering 133 mph fastest serve to Nadal’s 125 mph, an average first serve speed of 120 mph to Nadal’s 112 mph, a second serve average speed of 99 mph to Nadal’s 90 mph (albeit Nadal maintained a higher second serve winning percentage 59% to Kyrgios’s 54%) and a total 70 winners to Nadal’s 44.
The kid came ready to show himself to the world. A wild-card entrant with a wild-heart.
This is the sort of stuff that legends in sports folklore are made of. And it is only the beginning for the young Aussie having now rocketed from a 144 world ranking to 66.
If, rationally, these facts and numbers hang around a few more years and keep in harmony with his pure protigious potential and talent, Mr. Nick “Led Zeppelin” Kyrgios will escape the discussion of if or could he be the best and find himself at that the coveted one, single, lonely number 1 spot. When he gets there we will know, if the competition’s talent is close…
…with a serve he can get what he came for.
Photo Credit: www.tennis.com.au