Is Nick Kyrgios really one of the 2022 US Open favourites?
ATP
Nick Kyrgios will play his third-round match at the 2022 US Open against J.J. Wolf at the Louis Armstrong Stadium as the last match of the program.
Kyrgios is without a doubt one of the best players on the ATP Tour this year, and if he wins his first singles Grand Slam title, he will even enter the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings for the first time in his career, despite missing the points from his run to the final of the Wimbledon Championships.
Moreover, he missed the majority of the clay-court season and didn’t enter as many tournaments as other players, which emphasizes the quality of his tennis in 2022.
After playing in his first singles Grand Slam final in his career at Wimbledon, the 27-year-old Australian didn’t hide his admiration for the Big Three as they were able to lift a total of 63 Grand Slam titles combined.
With the experience from Wimbledon, Kyrgios entered the 2022 US Open as one of the dark horses, and with every match played, he’s becoming more and more favored to win the tournament.
But can he really do it and is he one of the favourites? In the first two rounds, the Austrians played very tricky opponents. First, his very good friend Thanasi Kokkinakis and then Benjamin Bonzi, who’s capable of causing upsets.
Kyrgios handled both matches without significant troubles and after J.J. Wolf eliminated the sixteenth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut, he will face another unseeded player.
Already his next match against Wolf can be really tricky as the American is playing really well, and he will also have the support of the New York crowd. On the other hand, the Australian showed previously that he can have trouble when playing the home player, as he did against Paul Jubb at this year’s Wimbledon.
Yet, in the remainder of the tournament, he will face mostly non-seeded players as some big names as Stefanos Tsitsipas are already out of the tournament.
Probably the most important match for Kyrgios will be the fourth-round projected clash with the defending champion Daniil Medvedev. The Russian has always played very well at the last Grand Slam of the season when he played his first Grand Slam final against Rafael Nadal in 2019 and won his maiden major title last year against Novak Djokovic.
However, Kyrgios managed to beat Medvedev a few weeks ago in Montreal and showed that he knows how to play against the ATP World No. 1 player.
If he handles this match against Medvedev, his confidence can skyrocket and push him through to the final. There, it can be the second-seeded Rafael Nadal or the Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz, who could be his final opponent.
With the experience from the final match against Djokovic, the Australian is certainly capable of beating both of these players, especially considering the physical state of the 21-time Grand Slam champion.
So, is Nick Kyrgios one of the 2022 US Open favorites? Yes, he is! The 2022 Australian Open doubles champion and 2022 Wimbledon finalist is hungry to add another Grand Slam success, and Flushing Meadows seems like a great place for him to do it.
Moreover, he is also the eighth seed in doubles alongside Thanasi Kokkinakis, and that’s another chance for the duo to do well in New York.
