MONDAY, AUGUST 5 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D7
page on a career that has under-
delivered on its promise. With
his victory, Kyrgios will vault
from No. 52 in the world to
inside the top 30. More
significantly, that should
guarantee him a seed at the U.S.
Open, which would protect him
from an early-round meeting
with one of the sport’s “Big
Three” — such as his second-
round match against Nadal at
Wimbledon.
“This is only the beginning,”
he said. “I’m going to continue to
go through with these habits.”
Sunday’s final was a battle of
big, booming serves. Kyrgios had
slightly more power, blasting his
at upward of 135 mph. But the
6-6 Medvedev had a serve that
was equally problematic,
particularly after Kyrgios
developed back spasms at 2-2 in
the opening set.
Neither faced a break point
through the first 12 games, so a
tiebreaker was needed to settle
it. Medvedev bolted to a 5-2 lead
only to see Kyrgios claw back to
the delight of the crowd, which
had taken his side early in the
proceedings.
Kyrgios called for a medical
timeout during the break that
followed and sprawled face-first
on the court while a trainer
kneaded his upper back. He
moved more freely in the second
set. Still, neither could manage
even a break point on the other’s
serve.
For the most part, Kyrgios was
professional throughout,
keeping his chatter to a
minimum. But there were
moments of frivolity. He
followed a 140-mph ace with an
underhanded serve, a trick he
pulled out several times this
week, either to amuse himself or
keep his opponent off-balance.
More than once, he attempted
between-the-legs shots when a
traditional one would have been
the wiser choice. And for the
third consecutive match, he
turned to a spectator in the front
row to ask where he should
place his serve on match point.
In this instance, the ticket-
holder’s suggestion was to pull
Medvedev wide. Kyrgios did just
that. It worked, and he fell flat
on his back in celebration.
[email protected]by what he has called a lack of
respect “for the public, the rival
and for himself.”
Even on Saturday, as the
second set against Ts itsipas
slipped away, Kyrgios barely
made an effort to return serve
on a few points, drawing boos,
only to rally in the third.
But on Sunday, Kyrgios spoke
like a man who had turned theIt was a sharp contrast to the
tempestuous youngster who
earlier in his career
acknowledged tanking at least a
half-dozen matches because he
wanted to be somewhere else.
While many opponents ignore
Kyrgios’s outbursts and
eccentricities, Nadal has been
critical — acknowledging his
considerable talent but offendedsteadfast support as his ranking
plunged from a career-high No.
13 in October 2016 to a low of
No. 72 in February.
“They still believed in me
when I honestly didn’t,” said
Kyrgios, who has cycled through
numerous coaches and currently
doesn’t have one. “I lost faith
that I could have weeks like this
and be happy.”having the same routine each
day, like “traditional tennis
players.”
“A lot of habits needed to
change,” he said. “I just had a lot
of unhealthy habits, and it was
starting to show on the tennis
court. It was too up and down. It
wasn’t healthy.”
He made a point of thanking
his brother and friends for theira dime — from tantrum-
throwing toddler to bored teen
who can’t be bothered to world-
class showman or, when he
chooses, to ungodly gifted player
who leaves opponents flat-footed
and shaking their heads in awe.
This past week at Rock Creek
Park Te nnis Center, Kyrgios
showed what’s possible when he
corrals his prodigious talent and
chooses to compete for six
straight days — long enough, in
this case, to reach the final of the
Citi Open. And on Sunday, the
unseeded Kyrgios overcame an
ailing back, kept his temper in
check, fed off the support of a
capacity crowd and blasted
18 aces — with no double faults
— to defeat third-seeded Daniil
Medvedev, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-4),
and claim the sixth tournament
title of his career.
“We all know how Nick can
play when he wants to, and this
week, I think he wanted to play,”
said the 23-year-old Medvedev,
who served exceptionally well,
competed fiercely and won
71 points to Kyrgios’s 72. “It was
tough.”
Medvedev was the second top-
10 player Kyrgios beat in as
many days. In Saturday’s
semifinal, he ousted sixth-
ranked Stefanos Ts itsipas, the
tournament’s top seed (as well as
Kyrgios’s first-time doubles
partner this past week), despite
destroying a clutch of rackets
amid bouts of rage and
frustration.
But on Sunday, Kyrgios, who
so often has been the architect of
his own undoing, was a steadier
player and better man, coming
across as genuinely pleased with
his achievement and grateful for
the fans who cheered him all
week.
“This has been one of the best
weeks of my life — not just on
the court but in my life,” he said.
“I feel like I’ve made major
strides.”
As Kyrgios explained after
having time to reflect on his
week’s work, his success here
was the result of a major change
in his approach to tennis that
started months ago. He declined
to provide details but said it
consisted of basic things, such as
ON TENNIS FROM D1
WTA title of her career but one of
her first tennis championships
ever.
After she served an ace on
match point, she fell to her knees
and wiped away tears before
greeting her dog, Maddie, ahead
of the trophy presentation.
“Never,” P egula said with a laugh
when asked the last time she won a
title at any level. “Well — juniors, I
won like a Grade 3 or something. It
was a long time ago.... There was
definitely a time where I was think-
ing about it. I lost in the finals at
Newport. I lost in the finals at
Midland this year. I lost in the
finals at Quebec last year. I’ve lost
in finals of singles at a couple Chal-
lengers when I was younger. So it’s
definitely always been in the back
of my mind. This week felt differ-
ent. I felt like I was ready.”
Winning the trophy Sunday
was the culmination of a long two
years for Pegula, who had surgery
to repair the labrum of her right
hip in January 2017 and resumed
playing tennis that fall with a new
approach and new motivation.
She started taking nutrition seri-
ously, overhauled her prematch
routine and started more intense-
ly studying the sport she fell in
love with during after-school les-
sons as a 7-year-old.
A naturally powerful player a nd
quick learner, the 5-foot-7 Pegula
had been solid on nearly all
strokes but l acked a standout s hot.
She focused on improving her
serve and mixing up s hot s election
and pace — work that was evident
against Giorgi, who didn’t play at
her normal level of all-out aggres-
sion and had to contend with Peg-
ula’s c reativity.
Pegula’s willingness to vary her
game and her drive after years
spent toiling in lower-level tour-
naments were what stood out to
Venus Williams’s former coach
David Witt when the pair started
working t ogether just last week.
“She’s thinking about things
that we’ve started working on al-
ready, which is not easy to do — to
add things in when you’re in the
heat of the battle out there,” Witt
said. “[Pegula] has all the shots,
which is good, so when you want
her t o add t his in there o r, ‘ Hey, t ry
this,’ she has the shot to do it. It’s
CITI OPEN FROM D1
citi open
just a matter of her mixing it in
and s eeing it work.”
That game served Pegula well
this week in a wide-open draw.
No. 1 Sloane Stephens, N o. 2 Madi-
son K eys and N o. 3 Sofia Kenin f ell
early, and only one seeded player
— No. 4 Su-Wei Hsieh — made it to
the q uarterfinals.
Ye t the e arly exits o f the tourna-
ment’s top players smoothed Peg-
ula’s path very little. She weath-
ered two three-set matches and a
brief lapse of focus in Saturday’s
semifinals against Anna K alinska-
ya, played in midday heat and
humidity.
For a player w ho hadn’t m ade it
past the third round of a WTA
To ur-level event since September,
Pegula felt her week in Washing-
ton was a testament to her perse-
verance. “To push through this
week and push myself to the limit
to be stronger than I almost
thought I was at times really
makes it amazing,” s he s aid.
Against Giorgi, who usually is
all power, all the time, Pegula
made it a point to be the aggressor.
She dictated points throughout
and jumped o n balls early, sending
them whizzing past the Italian,
who might have had a slight edge
entering the m atch if only because
of h er experience.
In addition to her two WTA ti-
tles, Giorgi owns wins over former
No. 1 players Caroline Wozniacki,
Maria Sharapova, Victoria A zaren-
ka and Garbine Muguruza. The
27-year-old can be lethally aggres-
sive when she wants despite her
generously listed 5-6 stature, but
Pegula proved Sunday she has the
power and timing to match. And
now she has a title t o show for it.
With that milestone reached
and a rankings bump that will
send her from N o. 79 t o a projected
No. 54, which would be a career
high, Pegula heads to the Western
& Southern Open in suburban
Cincinnati with newfound confi-
dence.
“This is what you work for, you
know, to win tournaments,” she
said. “The journey — it sounds
cliche, but the journey makes it
that much s weeter.”
Raven Klaasen and Michael Ve-
nus claimed the men’s doubles
title, beating Jean-Julien Rojer
and Horia Te cau, 3-6, 6-3, 10-2.
[email protected]Pegula sweeps past Giorgi to capture her first WTA Tour title
KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST
Jessica Pegula shares the moment with her dog, Maddie, after defeating Camila Giorgi, 6-2, 6-2, to win the Citi Open championship.ON TENNIS
Enigmatic Kyrgios remains cool and produces ‘one of the best weeks of my life’
KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST
“We all know how Nick can play when he wants to,” Daniil Medvedev said after falling to Nick Kyrgios, above, who hammered 18 aces.