The BIG Match – Nadal v/s Kyrgios

After all the hype to this match, it could be a flame out if Kyrgios is not at his very best here.  Nadal will always do what he does, and never give in or beat himself; however, will Kyrgios have what it takes to beat a resurgent Nadal on clay?  It seems Kyrgios has everything and a lot to gain from this match, and he runs the risk of misinterpreting this as a “lot to lose” match.   Nadal on the other hand has much more to lose than gain from the outcome of this match.

Kyrgios has everything to gain

Nadal just had a tough one against Fognini and showed some cracks in his game and Kyrgios is playing good and could even win this if he is really on with his game.  Nadal is the undisputed king of clay and Kyrgios is a rapidly rising star who is indeed playing well and with some consistency lately.  If the serve is cranking for Kyrgios and he can truly push Nadal back with that power behind his shots then he should be able to apply enough pressure to do yet another Soderling on Rafa.  Winning this match could truly establish Nick as the super-star of tennis and give him enormous confidence for the French Open.  However, it is easier said than done as Rafa knows the importance of this match and will certainly have his own bag full of tactics and strategies to counter a Soderling like scenario this time around.

Rafa has a lot to lose

Rafa has had a long season already and even won the last two clay tournament that he has played.  Some fatigue is due to set in by now and it showed a little in his match against Fognini, and Kyrgios is another quality opponent with even more power.  Rafa will surely lose some clay court aura and significant momentum for this clay season if he were to go down to Kyrgios.  Therefore, to Rafa this is another important match that he just cannot afford to lose whereas to Kyrgios it’s an important match that he should try his best to win. Therefore the pressure is truly on Rafa to not lose.  This sort of pressure allows for the deadly “prevent-defense” mentality to take over on crucial points and Rafa has to avoid falling into that trap.  However, Nadal is an old hand at handling pressure and should be able to squeeze a win out on this one.

Conclusion:  Nadal is slightly favored to win in 3 sets.  However, if Kyrgios can play the way he played against Roger in Maiami then he could win this in straight sets.

This should be an interesting match and could really announce the coming of age of Nick Kyrgios and set him up as heir apparent to the number one position in the not too distant future https://www.138mph.com/nick-kyrgios-can-he-be-number-one/.