When Nick Kyrgios was 12 years old, he attended every Jo-Wilfried Tsonga practice session at the 2008 Australian Open, witnessing the Frenchman make it all the way to the final.
Kyrgios, who is now just two spots lower than Tsonga in the world rankings, got his hero’s autograph after each practice at Melbourne Park.
On Friday, Kyrgios takes on Tsonga in the Australian Open third round, a decade on from his days as a young fan chasing signatures.
“It’s going to be fun,” said Kyrgios, who lost his only previous meeting with Tsonga — a tight three-setter in the Marseille semi-finals 11 months ago.
“We played last year in Marseille. He beat me in a three-set battle. It was a lot of fun. Obviously a guy I looked up to growing up.
“I’ve seen him play a lot. I know what he’s going to bring. He knows what I’m going to bring. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
“I’m looking forward to it. He’s one of my idols.”@NickKyrgios on his third-round clash with @tsonga7 🍿#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/an2nJqscia
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 17, 2018
Kyrgios reflects fondly on that 2008 tournament which remains Tsonga’s sole appearance in a Grand Slam final.
“It was just the way he played his game. I liked his aggressive style of tennis. He had a big serve, big forehand. He played an entertaining style tennis,” he said of Tsonga.
“When I was 12, I went to all his practice sessions. He made the final in 2008. I think I was 12. I went to all his practice sessions with a new ball. He signed it every day. I don’t know if he remembers. I didn’t miss one of his practice sessions, so…”
Kyrgios isn’t just 10 years older now; so far at the Australian Open, he has shown composure when he needed it, as he overcame an attention-seeking disruptive fan, an inoperative court microphone and a helicopter hovering persistently over the chaotic Hisense Arena to post a 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (2) win over Serbia’s Viktor Troicki.
The 22-year-old Aussie began his season by clinching the title in Brisbane and now extended his winning streak to seven matches and zero losses in 2018.
He loves the energy of Hisense Arena — dubbed the “People’s Court” — and is known to feed off the crowd. But on Wednesday, the distractions were working against him yet he chose to conserve his energy instead of giving in to the hype.
“I know I have to conserve my energy from the start in best-of-five matches. Just so many ups and downs, it’s draining. You want to just conserve as much energy as you can,” said Kyrgios.
“It was tough. I told the umpire to maybe just not use a microphone anymore because the crowd just found it so amusing. I mean, I was just like, ‘Dude, just stop doing it. It’s going to create more of a circus’. He stopped doing it.
“Obviously it was tough. It felt like I was playing at another tournament. I didn’t hear the microphone, no music at change of ends. It was a strange atmosphere.”
Despite some complaints to the umpire, Kyrgios relatively kept his cool and walked off court a winner in straight sets.
The usually temperamental Kyrgios, who was slapped with a $3,000 fine for using colorful language during his opening round match, admits he’s showing signs of maturity.
“I think last year, the year before, I probably would have been probably still out on the court right now, could be losing that match,” he said in his post-match press conference.
In Tsonga’s second round, experience prevailed over youth as the French world No. 15 came back from 2-5 down in the fifth set to outlast Canadian tennis Denis Shapovalov 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 in a three-hour 37-minute tug of war.
Playing just the second five-set match of his career, Shapovalov, 18, couldn’t seal the deal but still earned the praise of the legendary Rod Laver, who tweeted after the match:
Bad luck @denis_shapo on your 5-set loss to Tsonga at the Australian Open today- such a talented player. Going up in the world. #AusOpen
— Rod Laver (@rodlaver) January 17, 2018
The left-handed Next Gen star, who sports an attacking one-handed backhand, won the ATP Star of Tomorrow and Most Improved Player awards in 2017, earned the respect of Tsonga, who said after the match: “I think he deserved to win also today, but I was also courageous and I did my job at the end. I played well. I think I deserve it, too.”
Kyrgios has long expressed his admiration for the 50th-ranked Shapovalov and tips him for great things in the future.
“I think Denis is going to be one of the stars of the game,” said Kyrgios, who was Shapovalov’s team-mate on Team World at the inaugural Laver Cup last September. “He’s showing signs. Obviously it’s not easy to be in that position in the first place. He’ll learn from it. I’m sure he’ll start closing out matches like that soon enough.”
“It’s not easy playing against those young guns… they go for everything.”
It took everything he had but @tsonga7 is through to 3R – plays winner of Kyrgios vs Troicki.#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/g7yQBot1DS
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 17, 2018
Tsonga, a 32-year-old who became a father last year, knows what to expect from his showdown with Kyrgios. He is a decade older than his opponent but is not daunted by the task at hand.
“Like today. He’s got the fire in the arms,” said Tsonga.
“I’m very excited about it. It’s good to play against those guys. They are, for sure, the present, but also the future of tennis. Yeah, I played so many guys when I was young like them. I remember I played Tim Henman in US Open. I played Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt, so many guys like this, of different generation. So it’s always good to play against them and compare our tennis to their tennis.”
