Week 30 - Challenger ($125,000) - Astana II, Kazakhstan (Hard)

Oakland2002 · All-time great

RE: Week 30 - Challenger ($125,000) - Astana II, Kazakhstan (Hard)

indiana · Tennis legend

Very good week for Kyle and some great play today.

But, I repeat, he does need so many more challengers like this.

Having played relatively few competitive matches through March, April and May ( and his schedule was much discussed ), in my view he really does need a lot more experience in events like this.

Getting to two challenger SFs in a few weeks is great ( and to answer my earlier question, he has reached two challenger SFs total )

He has competed very well in both of these SFs against top 100 players, indeed eking out winning TB first sets in each, but has then relatively fallen away from stages in the second sets.

Kyle is doing very well, but it looks like he needs to build more confidence and it looks more fitness to come through events like this. My big worry expressed earlier was his lack of experience in tight match situations ( and I retain that concern, but significantly more challenger experiences will help ), though here again it didn't really go down to the wire.

Again, some of his play has been tremendous recently, but let him develop, and as for looking yet too powerful for challengers - my **** !

But I do think he will get there in time :)

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

I completely agree with your analysis Indiana, Kyles game looks great and really appears to have a lot of potential, but the two main areas that seem to lack are his confidence and his fitness. At 4-1 up in that set he should have gone after Berankis, but instead seemed to really back off and let Berankis into the match (whether due to fitness, confidence or both, I am not sure...)

When you compare Kyles demeanour to the likes of Kyrgios, Kokkinakis and Zverev they are so intense and almost shock their opponents at the way they get in their face and act like they deserve to win. Whilst I recognise that might not be Kyles natural style, a bit more intensity with fistpumps, shouting etc (which is what Berankis did when he began to claw his way back into the match) would help.

philwrig · Hall of fame

It's probably been just about a perfect 3 weeks for Kyle. After the disappointment of Wimby he was maybe a little low on confidence. But he's played himself into his best form, won quite a few matches and gained alot of points. The draws were also ideal in that they offered him a gradual way into the tournament in terms of player quality, so that he didn't have to play the big fish until the quarters.

At his best Kyle needs to play at a high intensity so matches like today are inevitable i.e. running out of juice especially after yesterday's performance. Physically Kyle needs to develop more stamina but I think the evidence of the last 3 weeks suggests that some progress has been made here.

I agree 100% with Indy that Kyle needs to stick to these types of events for the forseeable future building experience and understanding what winning matches at this level requires physically so that maybe in 6 months time he doesn't run out of gas in this type of match to the same extent.

-- Edited by philwrig on Saturday 26th of July 2014 03:02:19 PM

Spectator · All-time great

Haven't really seen Mr Edmund play much recently, and don't have any "inside information" - but I have huge admiration for everything that I've ever seen regarding his character and work ethic. I don't, therefore, think that it's a question of his needing to put in more effort on fitness, but simply of taking time to grow into what he's doing. My sole concern goes back to his period out last year, which as I understood it from this board, was because of a mysterious tiredness. It may be that he and those around him are being careful out of concern for his health. Given his combination of talent and character, it's hard to imagine that if the health stays good, he will be anything less than a solid ATP player.

indiana · Tennis legend

Oh, I personally pretty much agree with all of that, Spectator, and good point about Kyle's rather unexplained illness last year. In any event when I say that confidence and fitness are issues for Kyle, they were already to me absolutely understandable issues, and no criticism of him was intended. .

These will develop, and they will develop playing tournaments like this. He needs a good body of challengers to accumulate matches and match situations more, for me, than he needs to play with the big boys. Was his earlier year mishmash of tournaments particularly helpful for experience etc ? Not in my view. But it's not a huge issue, especially as Kyle is clearly still in a pretty good place moving forward, and we can argue because ofs against in spite ofs regards his earlier schedule till the cows come home. More importantly, his game ( sheer tennis ability, the most important thing for now ) is coming along great. Credit to him and his coaches over the last few years.

Now, just don't let me be hearing about any North American Masters WCs for Kyle ! Though, yes, I would expect to see and be pleased to see him in US Open qualifying.

Looking good :)

korriban · Challenger level

I didn't see the match, but from the sounds of it Kyle was playing nearly as well as his outstanding levels in the Quarter Finals for a set and a half, and then the wheels came off......or rather he dropped his level slightly, Berankis raised his level slightly, levelled up set 2 to 4-4 [which we know is something which happens all the time in high level tennis, and indeed happened in set 1 from 5-2 to 5-5]......but THEN the wheels came off very quickly.

If Kyle is going off to Segovia, it can't be an injury or exhaustion......and indeed, if he does play next week I would applaud Kyle and his coach (Greg, I guess) for doing things the hard way, not somehow masking or gently shielding themselves from the reality of the strains of life constantly on the road, and forcing Kyle to take immediate lessons from this setback {after a very good week] and not to dwell on what's just happened.

To me you get 10 out of 10 if you win a 5 match tournament, however you do it. So Kyle should award himself a 7, rather than a 6 [almost an 8 but not quite today], fully debrief....aim for another un in Spain and vow to beat Berankis next time.

I've generally been 50/50 on Kyle this year, especially with lots of other young guns making so much noise, but that Kavcic win was pure class.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Your a harsh man has to be a 10 for me, highest single points haul from a tournament 2 weeks back to back, good win the wind, a second win against second seed and then close run semifinal two matches against players ranked 150-175 places above him. Personally he looks like a kiddy in a sweet shop he tweeted sometime last year about being stuck on a plane to the back end of beyond and loving what he did for a living. I think the odd ATP wildcard wouldn't hurt probably get to learn something and at worst get a bit of a break if he gets knocked out. That said US open qualifying would tick all the boxes, bit like a challenger plus with punt at the big boys and a decent cheque for doing so. Here's hoping he stays healthy

indiana · Tennis legend

As is often the case, it looks like these markings are much more about how tough individuals draw up their scoring criteria much more than how differently / harshly they are judging the player / teams involved.