Stuart Fraser: Nick Kyrgios surges as US Open contender after winning Washington Open title

With his aggressive style and explosive bursts of power, Kyrgios is the last opponent any top player would wish to come up against in the early rounds of the final grand-slam tournament of the season, which starts in New York on August 29. As was seen during his entertaining run to the final at Wimbledon last month, the 27-year-old is a dangerous unseeded floater.

Just as well, then, that Kyrgios has carried forward his momentum on the grass to the hard courts of North America. His 6-4 6-3 victory against Yoshihito Nishioka, the world No.54 from Japan, in the Washington final moved him up 26 places to No.37 in the rankings. Had the ATP not stripped Wimbledon of points in retaliation for the ban of players from Russia and Belarus, Kyrgios would be ranked No.15.

Three more match victories during the course of the next fortnight, at the Rogers Cup in Montreal and Cincinnati Masters, should be enough to secure a top-32 seeding at the US Open, although it is possible that he has already done enough if there are withdrawals.

This would mean that he would not face the likes of Daniil Medvedev, the defending champion, or Rafael Nadal, the 22-times grand-slam winner, until the third round of the US Open.

There is no doubt that Kyrgios is playing the best tennis of his controversial career. He has won 11 of his past 12 matches, losing only the Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic in four sets, and became the first player in the 53-year history of the Washington Open to win both the singles and doubles after successfully teaming up with Jack Sock.

From a technical standpoint, it is his serve that is posing the most problems for opponents this summer. He did not drop serve in his six singles matches last week, saving 10 break points.

Mentally he is in a far better place after coming through battles with depression, substance abuse and self-harming in recent years. His Australian girlfriend, Costeen Hatzi, has accompanied him at every tournament this summer to help keep him settled off the court, while an agreement with Netflix to appear in its upcoming tennis documentary series also appears to have improved his focus.

“It’s just very emotional for me,” Kyrgios said after his victory on Sunday. “To see where I was at last year to now, it’s just an incredible transformation.

“I’ve been in some really dark places. Just to be able to turn it around … there are so many people who have helped me get there, but, myself, I’ve shown some serious strength to just continue and persevere and get through all those times and be able to still perform and win tournaments like this one.”

Whether Kyrgios is seeded or not at the US Open, he will be considered a contender after showing at Wimbledon that he has what it takes to come through several consecutive matches in the extended best-of-five-set format.

His odds will surely receive a boost given the uncertainty surrounding the participation of Djokovic and the physical state of Nadal. It seems unlikely that the US government’s ban of unvaccinated travellers from overseas will be relaxed for Djokovic to be able to enter the country in the next fortnight, while Nadal has pulled out of the Montreal entry list because of a setback in his recovery from the abdominal injury that forced him out of the Wimbledon semi-finals. The Spaniard is expected to play in Cincinnati next week.

– The Times

Originally published as Stuart Fraser: Nick Kyrgios surges as US Open contender after winning Washington Open title