Delray Beach, FL–
Tennis fans in Delray Beach got the full Nick Kyrgios experience on a humid night, as the Australian battled past his compatriot John Millman 6-4 6-7(1) 7-6(3) to advance to the second round. Monday’s Delray Beach Open debut for Kyrgios was rather eventful, as most Kyrgios matches are.
Kyrgios started the match off wel,l breaking Millman in the opening game and only facing one break point in the first set. Neither player had a break point in the second set, but a short lapse of focus in the tiebreaker from Kyrgios benefited Millman, as he evened the match at one set apiece.
Kyrgios, who was struggling with a knee injury throughout the match, took a medical time out at the start of the third set as his movement looked to be hampered. Kyrgios admitted post-match: “I was a little nervous coming out. I haven’t played a match in quite a while, and playing one of my good mates wasn’t easy, he’s a great guy.”
Kyrgios ultimately made it through in a match that lasted over two hours, as his fitness level was certainly tested. Kyrgios, who works with fitness coach Ashcon Rezazadeh, joked that whatever they were doing wasn’t working, but added that he was happy to get through on such a humid night.
Good step forward?
As we’ve seen with most Kyrgios matches, you never know what you’ll see from one point to the next. The lulls were there when you could tell he doesn’t seem to be engaged, but he managed to turn it on when he had to. If Kyrgios can recover physically, this tournament will be a step in the right direction for a player that hasn’t had much go his way on court as of late.
The familiarity of the area and extra crowd support might give Kyrgios an added boost this week too. He spends a lot of his time training at the Evert Tennis Academy, which isn’t too far from Delray Beach.
Kyrgios hasn’t been to the quarterfinals of a tournament since this past summer at the BB&T Atlanta Open. He’ll have a chance to advance to the quarterfinals in Delray Beach, as he’ll face either big-serving Ivo Karlovic or Radu Albot next.
