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Dominic Thiem challenges local hero and hotheaded Nick Kyrgios in the third round of the Australian Open.
8:55 am, February 12, 2021
About a year is Nick kyrgios He’s been on the tennis tour without a result, now he’s back and ready. In the hometown hero’s five-set win at the Australian Open on Wednesday against the French Ugo Humbert hat Dominic Thiem Get an impression of how things are going at Kyrgios matches in Australia. Today (9am, ServusTV live) the world number three can do this experience himself, of course, despite all the circumstances, he is still the favorite for promotion to the second round. It would be the fourth in Melbourne for the Austrian.
Kyrgios, who is always good at breakaways, lost to Rafael Nadal in the round of 16 at last year’s home Major on January 27, before the Spaniard was beaten by Thiem in the quarterfinals. Four weeks later, Kyrgios suffered an initial defeat – against Humbert, by the way – in Acapulco, and then came the pandemic. Kyrgios clearly positioned himself in the crisis, refraining from traveling after the tour resumed and offering, among other things, food deliveries to those in need.
Harte Kritik and Djokovic
Around the controversy, of Novak Djokovic The organized Adria Tour got the Serbian and also the German Alexander Zverev due to visits to the Kyrgios party to remove the fat. In January there was another exchange of blows with Djokovic after he had asked for quarantine relief. Kyrgios harshly criticized “Djoker” for this, who replied: “He has a great name and has shown he can beat anyone. But off the pitch I don’t have much respect for him.”
From then on, Kyrgios focused on his comeback, reaching the knockout stages in one of Melbourne’s preparatory tournaments last week and now defeating the Portuguese qualifiers this week. Frederico Ferreira Silva in four and Humbert in five movements. Kyrgios’ best performance at the Australian Open was the move to the quarterfinals in 2015, until the second round that had come before 2020 in 2018. Now, of course, he has to play against last year’s finalist, against the winner of the US Open.
Kyrgios: “Thiem trains like an animal”
“He’s probably one of the strongest physically on the tour, he’s an extremely good player,” Kyrgios said, without praising Thiem. “I’ve followed his development. I’ve seen him in juniors and he stumbled a bit. But it’s great to see how he got to the top. He trains like an animal, he’s consistent and I have a lot of respect. For him. His tennis isn’t easy to play, it’s superphysical “.
Kyrgios himself will once again have the support of the fans. “It felt like being in a packed stadium,” he said after his game against Humbert. But he doesn’t think Thiem is intimidated by the audience’s support for the opponent. “He can deal with it because he is one of the best players in the world. He is entering with enthusiasm. He is a player who loves big game situations. You don’t reach the Grand Slams final and you win one if you get ahead. to the Australian audience fears “.
Kyrgios pays chances
The ever polarizing Kyrgios hopes that Thiem will play his best tennis against him. “But I still hope I get a good chance. What happens, happens. I’ll play with instinct. If it’s enough, it’s enough, if not, then no.” The winner of this duel will be against the Bulgarian Grigor dimitrow (No. 18) or Spanish Pablo Carreno Busta (15) play for a place in the quarterfinals.
