I managed to stay up and it was an amazing match. I thought Kyle was in real trouble after he lost that second set and three BPs down in the first game of the third. But he really kept his mettle which really threw Isner and Kyle capitalised.

Very early days for him at this level and he's going to have wobbles, but the upward curve since the spring for both him and Evo has been astonishing. I wouldn't bet against Evo causing a major upset tonight and I think playing in the doubles has helped him. As he's lost his passport, he may as well keep winning until he can get a new one printed.

Brilliant result from Kyle and great to see that he outlasted Isner after all the concerns about his fitness and stamina.

The Olympic spirit has carried on into the USOpen for the Brits. 

I as lucky enough to be there to see Kyle win. And he did brilliantly. I'm not as experienced as some of you guys in analysing tennis or have anything like the knowledge but there were two main things that seemed to make a difference between, say, the second set and the third and fourth. In the second Kyle was missing quite a few of his first serves, while Isner didn't seem to be able to miss, while this swapped around in the last two sets. Also, one thing Isner can do is belt the ball. Kyle was trying to just trade blows with him and this played into Isner's hands. But he really learned from this and mixed it up much more, with slice and placement as well in set three onwards. Kyle obviously has a far superior all round game and Isner just couldn't match it. He got really confused when Kyle, for instance, slowed his serve down to 78 mph and it completely duffed his timing. When Isner tried to compete on that level, with drop shots and slice, he kept netting it. So Kyle is certainly learning better game management. It was interesting that he said that he had learnt a lot from playing him at the French. With the lovely confidence of youth, he also said playing Djokovic earlier in the year should help him when he plays him on Sunday!

The other thing that was really promising for Kyle was playing against that crowd. Not sure if it came across on tv but it got pretty lairy at some points. When Kyle was break point down a few times, the chant would start up: break, break, break. There was lots of noise when Kyle was serving but when Isner served you could hear a pin drop. It could definitely put you off if you weren't made of sterner stuff. I should imagine playing Davis Cup should really help him in this regard. But there was also a largish minority of vocal Brits in the crowd, who gave Kyle tons of encouragement, which I hoped helped him.

On an amusing note, has anyone told him he's supposed to hit the signed balls into the crowd, not throw them! Mind you he's got a hell of a throw, he reached the top tier a few times.

Coup Droit wrote:

---

Jaggy1876 wrote:

---

Amazing to be talking about Evo being top 50 and target for seeding at Aus Open and in the same breath talking about points coming off from futures last year ha! I also get the feeling with Evo there is more there and that if his effort level was 100per cent allied with a greater fitness he could be top 20. Kyle is harder in some ways to judge as he gives everything and is obviously more level headed.

We may also be seeing a change coming at last. Gasquet, Isner, Federer, Simon, Ferrer wrong side of 30 and the like of Kyle, Thiem and Krygios on the move.

Thiem, Edmund, Krygios, Zverov as the big 4 by 2020

---

 

Think the Americans would snort in derision at your choices - they'd definitely have Fritz and Tiafoe (and others) in there too.

Although maybe, as they're slightly younger, you'd put them in the 'big 4/big 6 by 2023' category or whatever.

I'd always leave a space for Mr X too (although that's just hedging bets). But no one expected Djoko to be much cop when he was 19 or so (not that he was too shabby but ....)

 

---

 It's certainly a guessing game to some extent could also add Halys, Chung, Ymer to that as well. I reckon by this time next year we might see some serious movement in the top 10 which if you look at it has barely changed in the last 4 or 5 years top 5 even longer.

Sim wrote:

---

Brilliant result from Kyle and great to see that he outlasted Isner after all the concerns about his fitness and stamina.

The Olympic spirit has carried on into the USOpen for the Brits. 

---

Well he didn't really outlast Isner he outplayed him    But yes good that he had no cramping issues in the course of these four sets, whatever the reasons have been.

The US Open trully is proving a terrific follow up to the Olympics. This winning stuff is quite intoxicating  

-- Edited by indiana on Saturday 3rd of September 2016 11:25:17 AM

The Optimist wrote:

---

Well Nix, you must have had a GREAT day!!!  Lovely report, as is your one on the dubs.  Thank you.

---

 Seconded  

Errr were forgetting Coric and Thanos KKK. It's going to be an exciting decade.