'Genius idea': Nick Kyrgios begins match in never-before-seen fashion
Aussie Nick Kyrgios has once again divided the tennis world starting off his Rome Masters campaign in bizarre fashion.
Kyrgios clearly wasn’t fazed opening serve against Number 12 seed Daniil Medvedev in the first round as he surprised his opponent with an underarm serve.
The move caught Medvedev off balance and Kyrgios hit a clean winner to take the first point of the match.
Social media was alight with questions to when the last time a match began with an underarm serve.
Others were divided to whether it was foolish or genius.
Nadal is swearing up and down 🤣
— Hamza (@_Hamzah_h) May 14, 2019
Hahaha. My man.
— Doug Collins (@dc_loves_tennis) May 14, 2019
Sorry, but he is just a clown… 👎
— Frank (FOP) 🇪🇺 (@FOPinHamburg) May 14, 2019
As Roger said it's part of the game, there's nothing wrong with doing it
— RFan 20 (@RFislife) May 14, 2019
So? He's just tanking the whole clay season.
— Igor Puschkin (@Kalarou) May 14, 2019
@NickKyrgios that underarm serve I was talking about? ™️ it. It’s yours. 👏🔥 Genius idea
— Meagan (@IAMMEAGAN__) May 14, 2019
Moving on
Bounced out of Madrid in a first round loss last week, Kyrgios looked up against it for more significant time on the red dirt before the French Open later this month when he was drawn to play the in-form Russian.
But the mercurial Australian showed moments of his genius in a 6-3 3-6 6-3 win over Medvedev who has a claycourt final and semi-final appearance to his name already this season.
More underarm serves and a liberal dosing of dropshots were the hallmarks of an impressive outing by the world No.36, Medvedev clearly struggling with his opponent’s tactics.
“I was trying to throw him off his game because I knew he loves rhythm. He’s a great player,” Kyrgios said.
“Today was a lot of fun. I thought the crowd was a lot of fun. It’s very important to go out there and put on a bit of a show.
with AAP
