Nick Kyrgios has backed Novak Djokovic to take advantage of Carlos Alcaraz’s ‘curse’ in the Wimbledon final tomorrow (Sunday). The Spaniard and the Serb meet again in a repeat of last year’s showdown on Centre Court.
Alcaraz defeated Djokovic in a thrilling five-setter 12 months ago. However, Kyrgios believes the 21-year-old is so talented that he has too many shot types available to him at times during matches.
The Australian, who has teamed up with Djokovic on the Wimbledon practice courts this month, feels Alcaraz can sometimes hit the wrong shot in certain moments. The reigning champion defeated Daniil Medvedev in the semi-final but was not at his best.
Kyrgios said: “It was one of those days where everything had to go right for Medvedev. He kind of lost his rhythm a little after the first set.
“As I said, I predicted it was going to be a four-to-five-set win for Alcaraz and I’m right again! He’s definitely got the curse and the gift. He’s got so much talent he almost has so many options at any given time.
“The reputation with Alcaraz is he’s an extreme athlete and one of the best players but he can lose his focus at times and play ill-advised shots that I sometimes play or Johnny Mac (John McEnroe) played in his career. Someone like Novak will capitalise on those errors.”
Alcaraz overcame Medvedev in four sets but missed opportunities to make his triumph more comfortable. In the third set, he struck a speculative drop shot when a more routine shot might have been more appropriate.
He revealed afterwards that hitting the more fun shots – something he referred to as ‘disasters’ – can help ease his nerves.
Alcaraz said: “Sometimes I have to go for the effective one than other options. But, yeah, sometimes I do it because I feel so nervous, and it relaxes me because I got a smile on my face doing disasters sometimes, I’m going to say, or fun shots.
“But, yeah, that moment I was feeling really calm. I was feeling that I can do, you know, this kind of shots. I got the confidence that when I’m going to hit it, these kind of shots, I think that it’s going to be. Sometimes, as I say, it’s disaster.
“But, yeah, help me a lot to relax, smile, that I’m having fun on the court. Yeah, sometimes it’s difficult to do the simple shots.”