Is Nick Kyrgios Ready to Win Bigger Titles?

Nick Kyrgios has a way of attracting attention, but winning his first ATP title in Marseille, France, has the tennis world buzzing about his chances to become a contender in big tournaments sooner than later. Is the 20-year-old Australian ready for bigger titles against the top superstars?

Since Wimbledon 2014, the tennis world has kept an eye on his big serve, athletic shotmaking and brash demeanor. He plays with flashy shots and fiery charisma, but he’s also combustible when things go awry.

Kyrgios is the most interesting young player since Rafael Nadal took the European clay-court season by storm in 2005. He’s even got cut-off sleeves and flamboyant Nike threads. He's framed in a basketball player’s body and possesses imaginative skills in the rigidly competitive ATP.

But tennis demands honest discipline and grinding consistency. Is he mentally ready to challenge for greater prizes at more competitive tournaments like Dubai and Indian Wells?

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Breakthrough at Marseille

It was only a level-250 tournament, but Kyrgios earned his first ATP title with impressive results. He hammered his big, lanky serve with greater variety, and the entire week he held serve all 47 times. In his final three matches, he crushed Richard Gasquet, Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic. That’s two top-10 players and the 2014 U.S. Open winner, respectively.

"I think I served really, really well again," said Kyrgios in ATP World Tour. "I was serving really well all week. I didn't get broken once. That was the main thing that was good. And I was able to put pressure on my opponents' serves a lot when I was going through my service games really quickly."

Does this mean he’s ready to take on Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic at Dubai?

Well, not so fast. While his serve has been maturing with his relatively calmer antics on court (though a raging windstorm is only slightly less tempestuous than a hurricane), his progress in other areas of his game has been more gradual.

There are plenty of holes to fill with his boundless potential.

Consider that his serve took the pressure off his return game, and he was able to be more patient in reading his opponents. He stabbed and jabbed at returns, knocking them back with more consistency if not impressive depth.

His retrieving on defense was very good, especially when he ran to his forehand corner to swat back some dangerous running shots—something that was trademarked by Pete Sampras and Nadal.

On the other side, his backhand coverage was not so great. He’s fine when he has time to line up and loop his backhand, but his feet can get tied up when stretched to the ad corner. Then he often leaves short balls that float with too much slow topspin. Cilic unloaded on more than a few of those.

With offensive control, Kyrgios likes to leap into his backhand for extra oomph, but he shied away from mixing in consistent slice and flattened shots. His next step is to add more purpose with those strokes rather than methodically swatting topspin backhands. He’s not going to be a grinder like the previous decade’s great superstars, so attacking early will be essential in becoming an elite player.

Kyrgios will learn to come in more. Against Cilic, his speed helped make up for standing too far beyond the baseline, but he’s going to be more lethal if he can take a page from Roger Federer’s offensive mentality. Of course, we are talking about trying to mimic the Swiss maestro’s cerebral approach to offense, which has never been matched.

There’s a long ways to go for Kyrgios, even to approach this comparison.

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Eyeing King Novak

Considering that nobody else can rival Djokovic, Kyrgios might stand the best chance to climb the ranks in the next several months as a dynamic foil to the impeccable Serb.

The Australian has the talent to stay with Federer, Andy Murray, Wawrinka or Djokovic in a given set or two, but it will be another test altogether in a huge match over the course of three to five sets. He’s not there until he proves this feat. And we’re not talking about his 2014 Wimbledon surprises over Gasquet and Nadal. Being the new kid with nothing to lose is one thing. Crushing ATP rivals on a consistent basis is a task that Hercules would forgo in favor of holding up the world.

Furthermore, we are going to see if Kyrgios is really maturing in the right ways. Can he keep his composure when someone breaks his serve in a tight match? Will he channel his furious energy into the icy focus that made Sampras and Nadal relentless legends during their prime years?

After his loss to Kyrgios, Cilic implied that the Aussie has to work on his mental fortitude. “I felt I was getting much closer in that second set," Cilic remarked in ATP World Tour. "Every game was becoming a little more intense. I felt also that he was becoming a bit more frustrated, which was good for me. I had a chance at the end of the second set to get the break, but he managed to play well.

If Kyrgios is able to gain greater strength during the next few tournaments on hard courts, he could announce his legitimacy to be a Wimbledon and U.S. Open contender by summer. All this budding growth while Djokovic puts his life’s work into his clay-court quest for the French Open.

Kyrgios is not yet ready to be a top five player, but he has the stuff to win big matches. Then maybe sooner than expected, he could be the tornado that sweeps into Djokovic’s vast empire, upsetting the balance of power and signalling the semblance of a future rivalry.

Exciting potential, but there’s a lot to prove. Stay tuned.