ATP Stuttgart: Andy Murray stays cool against excited Kyrgios
Former world number one Andy Murray (ATP No. 61) is in the final of the Boss Open in Stuttgart. Against Nick Kyrgios he showed himself to be the cooler player.
by Florian Goosman from Stuttgart
last edit: Jun 11, 2022, 05:47 pm
Murray vs. Kyrgios - of course it's always a treat before the first shot. In the end, however, this time it was: well, a game with a less amusing ending.
Murray won 7-6 (5), 6-2, a pretty classic result in bare numbers. But of course not if Nick Kyrgios is playing.
Murray struggled a lot more to serve during the first half, while Kyrgios played the usual program of strong serves and the odd ball through his legs.
But when, despite his advantages, he just didn't want to take the lead, the other Nick Kyrgios reemerged. Space errors, tight balls that he saw differently than the Hawk-Eye - they are slowly heating up Kyrgios' mind more and more.
In the tie-break, when Murray hit the first mini-break, he kicked a ball out of the station and earned a warning; after losing the first round he chopped up his racket and got a point deduction; shortly afterwards he argued with spectators and himself and received a game deduction for incorrect choice of words.
Murray knows what to expect
The match was almost over - also because Murray did what he had to do: stay calm, don't interfere and keep playing with concentration - sometimes easier said than done.
"It's like Bublik, you know what's coming," Murray explained afterwards.
He is in the final at Weissenhof, his 70th on the tour, and it is certainly a great success for the Scot, who practically ended his career in 2019 and has been playing with an artificial hip ever since.
What was noticed again and again this week: how error-free and calm Murray appears, especially in the tight situations, in the tie-breaks, when it really matters. It is what distinguished him from Kyrgios even today.
Murray meets Matteo Berrettini , the 2019 winner, on Sunday .
TV NOTE: ServusTV Germany broadcasts all center court matches of the BOSS OPEN live and exclusively on free TV and on ServusTV On.