By the way Courier is indeed a very good commentator, a knowledgeable good communicator speaking to fellow adults, who kind of grasp this tennis lark and welcome his additional insight.
Can we keep him, just releasing him to captain the USA Davis Cup team in any tie vs GB ?
Just sitting in the beer garden at RG just now. Ended up seeing Andy after all got in halfway through the first set. He looked in control even after losing the third set. Really annoying the amount of empty seats. I was lucky that the queue for Suzanne Longlen was about 5 times longer. Andy doesn't seem to be too popular here. Most of the crowd supporting Sousa. Will post more on the experience here later but some ridiculous things that are also rather amusing too. Away back to Chatruer now to see Mladenovic. Not bad for 45 Euros all in for cat1 seats.
Had to go and prepare dinner as soon as Andy finished. I must admit I was a bit surprised at the second set - but I thought Andy would come through, Sousa was red-lining his game and they were nearly all going in: but I thought he probably couldn't keep it up for much longer. The only thing that bothered me was that Andy was helping him out by playing too conservatively, and also had a rotten first serve % in that set. But all's well that ends well. Good luck against Kyrgios.
I've noticed that Sousa is vastly improved during the last 12 months, so dropping a set isn't a big deal. I would suspect a similar scoreline v Kyrgios.
From what I've seen of Kyrgios, which isn't much, I think he might turn out to be a brilliant, world class player; and fantastically exciting to watch. Volatile, arrogant and incredibly naturally talented. Brilliant hands, and joyously inventive shot-making. Could be the one player to prevent Raonic turning men's tennis into a decade-long unwatchable bore-fest.
To echo St Augustine, "O Lord, Make him Good! ...but not yet!"
Just sitting in the beer garden at RG just now. Ended up seeing Andy after all got in halfway through the first set. He looked in control even after losing the third set. Really annoying the amount of empty seats. I was lucky that the queue for Suzanne Longlen was about 5 times longer. Andy doesn't seem to be too popular here. Most of the crowd supporting Sousa. Will post more on the experience here later but some ridiculous things that are also rather amusing too. Away back to Chatruer now to see Mladenovic. Not bad for 45 Euros all in for cat1 seats.
From what I've seen of Kyrgios, which isn't much, I think he might turn out to be a brilliant, world class player; and fantastically exciting to watch. Volatile, arrogant and incredibly naturally talented. Brilliant hands, and joyously inventive shot-making. Could be the one player to prevent Raonic turning men's tennis into a decade-long unwatchable bore-fest.
To echo St Augustine, "O Lord, Make him Good! ...but not yet!"
Oh Kyrgios is just the tip of the iceberg.
Given he's broken top 30 at just 20, he's arguably the biggest prospect since Del Potro. Then you have Coric who is looking like an ever bigger talent - already in the top 50 at 18 and will surely have his 'breakthrough' tournament/win (and I'm not including his win over an out-of-sorts Murray in this) very soon, plus Kokkinakis who recently broke the top 100 in his teens. Plus Alex Zverev who is the youngest of the bunch and broke the top 100 quite a while ago. Those four should surpass the likes of Raonic in no time, and certainly before the likes of Djokovic and Murray start to decline.
After that you've got a big group from the 1995 generation and beyond all breaking through. This includes Kyle, Nishioka, Donaldson, Ymer, Jarry, Rublev, Couacaud, Donati, Hamou, Khachanov, Djere, Garin, Tiafoe, Halys, etc. Not to mention the likes of Thiem, Vesely, Coppejans and Pouille who from the 1993 and 1994 generations who are all in the top 100.
Going off subject somewhat, but it's interesting to see all the above really breaking through (all top 300 bar Halys), whilst the former top juniors such as Quinzi (dominated juniors much like Vesely and Kyrgios - beat Kyle at junior Wimbledon too), Milojevic, Peliwo, etc have all struggled somewhat. Liam too to an extent, although he's doing better than those mentioned and to be fair to him, is - I think - in the top 5 from his generation, and has surpassed both Saville and Peliwo who of course beat him in the junior Slam finals.
L32: (3) Andy Murray WR 3 vs (29) Nick Kyrgios (AUS) WR 30 (=CH)
Head-to-head is 2-0 in Andy's favour, Andy having beaten him in straight sets in the last 32 of the Toronto Masters in Toronto last year & again in straight sets in the quarter-finals of the Oz Open earlier this year.