Australian tennis great Wally Masur says Nick Kyrgios‘ decision to effectively throw a set at Wimbledon “worked a treat” and helped him beat Brandon Nakashima in the fourth round.
Kyrgios dropped the first set 6-3 to the American player, then rallied to win the next two on Centre Court.
With a quarter-final berth just one set away, the enigmatic Aussie had his serve broken in the fourth set, and found himself 3-5 down.
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Kyrgios could have fought to break back against Nakashima, but instead essentially opted to conserve his energy and take it to a fifth set.
With his opponent on set point, Kyrgios belted the ball well out, handing Nakashima a ticket into the fifth set on a platter.
In commentary, Todd Woodbridge noted Kyrgios was effectively tanking.
But the 27-year-old served first in the fifth set and won it comfortably, 6-2, to take the match and progress to the quarter-finals.
Masur isn’t necessarily a fan of tanking, but conceded in this instance it appeared to help Kyrgios to victory.
“He was down a break, and it was kind of unusual because most players would say ‘I’m going to tough it out here, I’m going to make him serve it out’, because that’s always tough to do, and even if I lose I’ll serve first in the fifth,” Masur told Stan Sports’ Grand Slam Daily.
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“But Nick, by his own admission in the press conference, he called it ‘rope a dope’. He felt like at that point Nakashima had the momentum, and he needed to do something to shake it up.
“It worked, because he jumped him (in the fifth set).
“At the end of a set there is always a little momentum shift, a little punctuation in any case, and given the nature of that game Nick jumped him early in the fifth. It worked a treat.”
Tanking is a dirty word in any sport – tennis especially – but Masur accepts it can be used as a tactic to help win a match, too.
“It’s an interesting one. Andre Agassi used to do it a lot,” he said.
“He would be down a break 3-1, before you knew it it would be 6-1, and then he would just light it up in the next game.
“I think if it’s a point here or a point there, it’s part of tennis, it can happen. You wouldn’t want to see it sustained over a number of games.”
Kyrgios next takes on Cristian Garin in the quarters, who beat Aussie talent Alex de Minaur in the fourth round. Should he get through that match, as he’s favoured to do, it would set up a likely semi-final blockbuster against Rafael Nadal.
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