Novak Djokovic’s trick to breaking down Nick Kyrgios’ serve in Wimbledon final
Wimbledon: Djokovic in seventh heaven after beating Kyrgios in final
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Novak Djokovic won his seventh Wimbledon title with a four set victory over Nick Kyrgios in the final, however, the Serb didn’t have it all his own way against the outspoken Australian on Centre Court.
The Australian made a good start to the final winning the first set 6-4, before Djokovic fought back to win the next three sets and claim the title. Kyrgios is known for his impressive serve and entered the final with a 2-0 record against Djokovic, with the Serbian failing to claim a set or a break of a serve in their previous encounters.
However, Patrick Mouratoglou, who previously coached Serena Williams, believes Djokovic is “probably the best returner in the world” and that he started to read Kyrgios’ serves better as the game went on.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Mouratoglou said: “In the first set, Novak was really struggling to return Kyrgios’ serve. Once he got into the match, he started to read the serves much better.
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“He started to anticipate a lot, like choosing a side and most of Nick’s service games were more difficult than in the first set. So he had to fight to win his service games and that was one of the keys.
“Novak is probably the best returner in the world and maybe of all time. When the opponent is serving, if you fix your eyes only on the back you will see his split step is never going forward but is going forward and on the side every time.
“This means that he anticipates the serves of the opponent. Does he bet or does he go where he thinks the serve is going to go?
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“For sure it is the second option otherwise Nick would have scored many more aces, he scored a lot but probably many more. We could see that he was returning quite often, so that was really a key.
“Once the ball is in play, then it is a matter of rallying and in the rally I believe that Novak is superior to Nick and that’s why it ended up being a win from Novak.”
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