Novak Djokovic against Nick Kyrgios, number three in the tennis world against number 40. The cool "Djoker" against the completely unpredictable King Kyrgios. The Wimbledon final becomes a duel of opposites. And for the audience a challenge and a big show at the same time.
Wimbledon is gentleman's tennis. White clothes, perfect lawn, fine gentlemen all around. A place where evil has no business. But this evil wormed its way into the final in 2022. Nick Kyrgios challenges Novak Djokovic. With the rowdy Australian and the divisive Serb, there are now two players who don't want to fit in with the ideal world of the immaculate lawn classic. Who don't want to fit in with the ideal tennis world. Kyrgios, this genius with the absurd dropouts, who sees sport more as a show than as a bitterly serious argument. And Djokovic, playing for his seventh triumph, whose desperate search for love is at odds with his outlook on life.
While Kyrgios maintains the image of the "bad boy" with great love and passion, Djokovic only stumbled into the role of the "bad guy" in times of the pandemic. Large parts of the tennis world, which have always been strangers to the superstar because he is so different from the big darlings Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, are now finally rejecting the superstar because of his ignorance of the corona virus. You judge him. The dogged fight for the right to stay and start in Australia and the Australian Open served as a fire accelerator in this process. The unvaccinated Djokovic lost the duel with the authorities. And is now standing in his living room for the first time as a "bad boy" and finalist.
And with it the last round in the fight for the love and recognition that his two great rivals Nadal and Federer are given worldwide. His image suffered immense damage. This guy, who is sometimes misunderstood with his esoteric views of mountains, trees and the power of thought, suddenly acted strangely superior. Ignorant, alienated and selfish to a disturbing degree. The "Djoker" has not recovered from this provoked debacle. Instead, he became the divisive symbolic figure of the social pandemic conflict line. Proclaimed a hero at home and by corona deniers and vaccine skeptics, he became “persona non grata” for a hell of a lot of people.
He is now only driven by sporting success, even more than ever. He wants to secure his place in the history books with the historic Grand Slam brand. The 35-year-old has celebrated 20 triumphs so far, before the Australian Open he was on par with Federer and Nadal with this number. But then the Spaniard passed, won in Melbourne (what a bitter point for the Serb) and at the French Open in Paris. The way to the Grand Slam throne was so close - and is now so far again. But certainly not unattainable. He can start his catch-up race against Kyrgios. The 15,000 spectators can look forward to "emotional fireworks", says Djokovic, who lost both duels in 2017 - and is still the favorite.
This final pairing is another wild twist in the duel of the "Big Three". Because Kyrgios benefited from Nadal's semi-final waiver. Because of a tear in his abdominal muscles, the 36-year-old Spaniard decided against starting on the holy lawn. But it's not like Kyrgios didn't have a chance at the final. The Australian is playing in outstanding form these days. Because he's just in the mood for his job again. It's an eternal roulette with the 27-year-old. When he gets over his fluffy mind, when he focuses on his class with racquet in hand, there are few better players on tour. Nadal and Djokovic are among them. But he can beat her anytime, anytime.
Kyrgios is playing for a major title for the first time this Sunday, but all players know "he's dangerous, especially on grass," said Djokovic: "He's very confident on this pitch and seems to be in much better shape mentally than a few years ago." In fact, the polarizing Australian went through a deep valley. With suicidal thoughts. With drug use. Kyrgios failed again because of his genius. Dark past. No comparison to the radiant present.
"He finally appreciates where he is," his mother Norlaila told the Sydney Morning Herald. With his girlfriend Costeen Hatzi at his side, her son doesn't just think about tennis: "That's the best thing about the whole thing. You have to enjoy your life. I'm really glad that he's doing it now." Meanwhile, the son is trying to downplay the remarkable journey in the classic lawn. "You know, it's always just a tennis match," he explained: "The important thing is that I go to bed at night and I'm Nick Kyrgios. It's just normal." In its particular case, however, the term "normal" leaves ample room for debate.
How long can he appreciate this wave of success? Nothing is more difficult than predicting anything related to Kyrgios. Whenever you think you've got it figured out how to do it, a fuse blows somewhere. As in the completely escalated third round match against Stefanos Tsitsipas. The also very extroverted and polarizing Greek accused the Australian of "constant bullying" on the pitch. Kyrgios largely rejected the allegations against himself and emphasized misconduct by Tsitsipas. "He was the one who hit balls at me." There were warnings on both sides.
But there is also the other Kyrgios. The polite, respectful. "King" Kyrgios was only just getting humbled at the thought of the performances of the "Big Three". "We will never see a fighter like Rafa again, never again someone who swings his racquet as effortlessly as Roger. And probably never again someone who just always wins and controls the game as well as Djokovic," he said.
Djokovic has also had to experience how indiscriminately Kyrgios can distribute and mob. The Australian once mocked the world number one for his "obsession with being liked". "The cheering gestures on the pitch, the throwing at the crowd: he wants to be like Roger. That's shameful." But in January things changed. In the entry dispute with Australia, he suddenly joined Djokovic. "Since then we sometimes write personal messages on Instagram," says Kyrgios. Instagram is an important playground for the 27-year-old. Before the final, he posted an old photo of himself on his account with the not very modest name "k1ngkyrg1os", showing a slightly overweight boy with a racquet in his hand. Underneath he wrote "Wimbledon final" and put three smileys behind it: "It's so sick."
