Kyrgios Service Game breakdown vs Gasquet

Kyrgios is on great form, beating Gasquet and Berdych in Marseille in quick succession. The full replay of Kyrgios vs Berdych is not up yet, so instead I will do an analysis of Kyrgios vs Gasquet. I only have time to do one set, so will do second set which has bigger sample size of points.

In the first set Kyrgios his 6 aces in 3 service games and won the set 6-0.
I will do an analysis of how Kyrgios won his service games in second set, which Kyrgios won 6-4.

He served 5 service game (I will mark all aces, unreturned serves, and second serves)-
1st service game: Ace. Ace. 2nd serve-Gasquet wins pt. Kyrgios wins pt. 2nd serve-Kyrgios wins pt.
2nd service game: Ace. 2nd serve-Kyrigos wins pt. Ace. 2nd serve-Unreturned.
3rd service game: Unreturned. Unreturned. Ace. Ace.
4th service game: Kyrgios wins pt. Kyrgios wins pt. Ace. 2nd serve- Gasquet wins pt. 2nd serve-Unreturned.
5th service game: Ace. Ace. Ace. Ace.

Out of 5 service games: 2 of them had 4 unreturned/aces; 1 of them had 3 unreturned/aces, 2 of them had 2 unreturned/aces. Takes 4 points to win a game.
Out of Kyrgios 16 first serves in, 13 were either aces or unreturnable. 16/16 first serve points won.
Out of Kyrgios 6 second serves, 2 were unreturnable, Kyrgios won 2 in rally, and Gasquet won remaining 2. Gasquet only won 2 points on return whole set.


Surface pretty fast, and Kyrgios serving huge and with confidence.
For those who think this set is a one off, in the first set of this match Kyrgios averaged 2 aces a game; and today against Berdych he averaged over 1.5 aces a game (unreturnable serves would add to this significantly).
I think this will split opinion. I found Kyrgios's service games to not have much action and over in the blink of an eye. Reminded me of when I play Stick Tennis World Domination. Others may find it more enjoyable, for sure. I think courts are too fast.

People have been complaining about slow courts for years, so surely it doesn't matter if there are a few quicker ones around.
OK, no one wants to see Goran-like, Todd Martin-like ace-fests. But endless baseline bashing can be pretty boring as well.

Also keep this in mind:
Who are currently the best of the 'new' generation ?

Djokovic and Murray won't last forever, and Nadal and Federer are both relatively close to retirement.

Right now, if I was to bet on two people after that it would be Kyrgios, and Raonic (who has had a great start to the year, beating Stan and nearly Murray).
So we could have Kyrgios vs Raonic Grand Slam Finals at some point. Have a good look at the service game descriptions in the OP!

IMBL, you are not enjoying it.  Then you should appreciate how people who do not like baseline rallies must feel having watched the likes of Rafa or Nole these how many years.

I am not actually a huge fan of Kyrgios's tennis, but I find it reasonably watchable.  In today's tennis, either serve dominates, or it all turns into baseline slugfast.  With all the power, there is much less room for variety, S&V, etc.

I watched a bit of the rerun of Kyrgios vs Berdych.  I thought it was reasonably watchable, but even there, the points that did not end very quickly, tended to develop into longish rallies.

Rotterdam and Marseille have always been some of the quicker surfaces on tour...and next up Dubai too. So what? I'm all for variety...if you don't like Marseille then indulge in some Rafa self flagellation on the South Anerican swing

I had watched Marseille before, but only a few times, I wasn't aware of its status as one of the fastest on the tour; I do think it's quite fast but not as fast as Dubai.

I don't think theres a huge difference between Marseille and US/Aus Open day session; Marseille marginally quicker.
I think regardless of court speed Kyrgios and Raonic right now are the two players for me who will be at the top once Djokovic declines.
The Kyrgios vs Raonic 1 minute average service games in Grand Slam finals is not an unrealistic scenario at all.

I'm glad to see it. About time there was variety around the World. And it would be good to see a Slam embrace fast court tennis. At least then cleaning up would mean what it used to.

Also, IMBL, you should note that in the three matches against Gasquet, Berdych and so far vs Cilic, Kyrgios has broken the serve in 9 games out of 21. So it is not like servers are having it all their way and we are seeing 7:6 6:7 7:6 matches with no breaks.

Current stat: 2nd serve points won:

Kyrgios: 80%
Cilic: 17%

Gasquet and Berdych playing poorly aren't going to be the ones challenging for Slams after Kyrgios retires, it will probably be Raonic.

bogbrush wrote:I'm glad to see it. About time there was variety around the World. And it would be good to see a Slam embrace fast court tennis. At least then cleaning up would mean what it used to.

Marseille is not as fast as Dubai, it is not much faster than US and Aus imo; won't take much of a change (perhaps none at all, maybe we just need to wait for Kyrgios and Raonic to peak) to see these dream slam finals. 2 games with 4 straight unreturnables, 1 with 3 unreturnables and 2 with only 2 unreturnables. And even in those 2 games with only 2 unreturnables I think I remember seeing some of those 1-2 punches, huge serve followed by a easy putaway.

Kyrgios now pretty much outclassed three solid pros in succession. In my eyes, all of his 2015 was wasted. He should have been at this point this time last year. But better late than never.

I like watching Kyrgios despite the big serve because he does bring the athleticism, movement, and touch. His fellow countryman Kok though I can't see doing much because he is as slow as death.

IMBL you are correct though that we don't really with the kind of service numbers that exist on tour where players are holding at much higher rates have much more room for the so called variety people desire. Of course the changes they talk about isn't about Marseille or Dubai being quicker they also want to speed up all the slow courts by banning racquets, strings, and balls. I do wonder how they are going to sell out a huge series of unprecedented changes all in favor of the big server across the board 11 months of the year and how this will garner variety in a tour where historical service numbers are already through the roof.

It Must Be Love wrote:

bogbrush wrote:I'm glad to see it. About time there was variety around the World. And it would be good to see a Slam embrace fast court tennis. At least then cleaning up would mean what it used to.

Marseille is not as fast as Dubai, it is not much faster than US and Aus imo; won't take much of a change (perhaps none at all, maybe we just need to wait for Kyrgios and Raonic to peak) to see these dream slam finals. 2 games with 4 straight unreturnables, 1 with 3 unreturnables and 2 with only 2 unreturnables. And even in those 2 games with only 2 unreturnables I think I remember seeing some of those 1-2 punches, huge serve followed by a easy putaway.  

I'm not so much only about the surfaces as also having a wider variety of player able to hit higher levels. For too long the game has become the preserve of rally machines. Kyrgios looks like he might take the high impact power game to a higher level and present new challenges (such as blowing you off court).

Now let us hope that success doesn't go to his head

Tough first rounder vs Klizan.
I would really like to see him play Djoko.

I thought Delpo was the one who blew everyone off the court ( including the top guys) until injury had him in 2013? Dont think Kygrios has the same power as Delpo, maybe a bigger serve.

I think Raonic's serve is more scary than Kygrio's. Maybe the two will form a new rivalry - Raonic is 5 years older - not unlike Fedal rivalry but not as lopsided ?

Belovedluckyboy wrote:Maybe the two will form a new rivalry - Raonic is 5 years older - not unlike Fedal rivalry but not as lopsided ?

They will, and I see them competing in many Grand Slam finals. Fedal replaced by Kyrnic !!

Kyrnic! What a name!

Belovedluckyboy wrote:I thought Delpo was the one who blew everyone off the court ( including the top guys) until injury had him in 2013?  Dont think Kygrios has the same power as Delpo, maybe a bigger serve.  

I think Raonic's serve is more scary than Kygrio's.  Maybe the two will form a new rivalry - Raonic is 5 years older - not unlike Fedal rivalry but not as lopsided ?

I think both Djokovic and Murray owned Del Po in the H2H, as did pretty much the entire top 4. It is a myth that at the time he left he could blow Djokovic or the other top 4 guys out. He was clearly the fifth wheel so to speak when so tragically he went out to injury, a great talent. But Kyrgios is different. Their styles are way different in that Kyrgios I think has a bigger serve. People don't remember but when Juan was 19 or 0r 20 breaking in his serve was not as advanced as where Kyrgios' serve is. Nick is also an all court player where Juan is a very traditional power baseliner.

He is on the way to big things this Nicky boy. He has all the game in the world if he only had a brain, maybe he does we will see.

Crikey aces??

Outlaw them!

Blowing them off the court doesnt mean he's beating them all the time, if not he would be no.1 already!!

Delpo at Kygrios' age had already achieved more than what Kygrios has achieved. Delpo played, in 2009 and 2010, during the Fedal era, and then in 2012-2013 during the Nadal/ Djoko era and he reached as high as no.4 in the rankings.

We'll see what Kygrios is made of, going forward.

Nice to see Nick back up his tourney win at Marseille with gutty win against a dangerous player in Klizan. Nick didn't have his best level and was a bit tired in the first set. He was off his game a bit and still dominated in the last set, most guys would lose this match being down a set, Klizan playing well, and having just won your first ever ATP title. Most pros would have packed it in the second set.