If Nick Kyrgios played to his full potential, where would he be ranked right now?

Nadalgaenger

Nadalgaenger

G.O.A.T.
We’ve been talking for several years about how talented Nick is, but the results have been ultimately pretty lackluster, and it seems that he has been eclipsed by Zverev and perhaps by two or three other #NextGen guys as the next great hope in tennis.

Of course, Nick has been hampered with injuries and has not always had the greatest mental stability.

So where WOULD/SHOULD he be ranked right now IF he were at his full potential?

I say 2nd or 3rd in the world, behind Nadal.
 
Blade0324 said:
Where he is right now. He is playing to his potential. He's too much of a head case to be any better.
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I get your point. I mean the whole notion of “potential” is highly problematic. Everyone is told that our potential for anything is sky high, and then life happens:)

You’re also right that a player’s brain is inextricably linked to his body, and despite some of the obvious talents he possesses, he does not seem to possess the true champion’s mentality. The Big 3 clearly have such a mentality. I haven’t observed it in Nick for any extended period of time.
 
He'd be at least where Tsonga was a few years back cuz they both have a similar game. If NK actually does realize his full potential, all the fellow next gen players would struggle to win stuff even in the post big 3/4 era tbh. His game at his best is absolutely lethal
 
Steve0904 said:
Basically yes. He may win more majors because he lucked out with the era/time period IMO, but he's not really a better tennis player with more potential than a guy like Roddick when he was young, for example.
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Nice call on Roddick comparison. I’d never thought of that but they are similar players, with Roddick having a MUCH better mindset and MUCH better results.

Still, I remain a fan of Kyrgios and would love to see him prove the haters wrong at some point. Pipe dream?
 
Nadalgaenger said:
Nice call on Roddick comparison. I’d never thought of that but they are similar players, with Roddick having a MUCH better mindset and MUCH better results.

Still, I remain a fan of Kyrgios and would love to see him prove the haters wrong at some point. Pipe dream?
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Looks like it. I hope I'm wrong funny enough, but it looks like he'll be a mental case forever, or at least up to the point where it's too late to do anything of significance with his career.
 
Nadalgaenger said:
I get your point. I mean the whole notion of “potential” is highly problematic. Everyone is told that our potential for anything is sky high, and then life happens:)

You’re also right that a player’s brain is inextricably linked to his body, and despite some of the obvious talents he possesses, he does not seem to possess the true champion’s mentality. The Big 3 clearly have such a mentality. I haven’t observed it in Nick for any extended period of time.
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The ATP is littered with "talent". But almost nobody is ever able to develop the mentality of a champion. And that's really the difference.

A few years ago, I thought Nick would be able to eventually develop a mentality strong enough to win majors. But now I don't think he will. Even when "the big 3" aren't winning anymore, I don't think Nick will be winning either. By that time, he will also be so broken down physically, that even if he developed a better mentality, his body won't allow for it.

But Nick's mentality is far more common than uncommon at this level of any sport. Anybody who get's this far was beating everyone below this level without having to work "crazy hard". But when they reach this level, everybody is .001% top talent. Most guys can't turn the corner at this point. They still rely more on their talent than their hard work. But it's harder to hide in an individual sport like tennis. It happens all the time in basketball and football, but you have an entire team to take the spotlight off of you.

That's why guys like Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic are so amazing. They are the best in the world at what they do, have been for a long time, and have consistently put in the effort all these years (with minor blips here and there).

I also respect guys like Kevin Anderson. Look at what he's done at this point in his career. You can just see the change in him. He's the poster child these days for a guy with less talent than his peers being able to outperform them because he outworks them. I really, really like this guy a lot.
 
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If Nick was healthy, didn't tank, and had even half of Nadal's drive, he would be #3 or #4 now, if not #2. For this "what if?" I am assuming Nick is fit, trains well and has the required stamina for long matches.
 
Nadalgaenger said:
We’ve been talking for several years about how talented Nick is, but the results have been ultimately pretty lackluster, and it seems that he has been eclipsed by Zverev and perhaps by two or three other #NextGen guys as the next great hope in tennis.

Of course, Nick has been hampered with injuries and has not always had the greatest mental stability.

So where WOULD/SHOULD he be ranked right now IF he were at his full potential?

I say 2nd or 3rd in the world, behind Nadal.
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Easily top 4. His serve is the best there is. Forget Isner and Karlovic. If Nick could be healthy longer and run, & a better mindset, he'd break and have quicker matches. Aussies would rule with DeMinaur on the rise and if Kokkinakis can improve.
 
He'd be ranked between 6-10. He's talented but also over-hyped.

I'll add that I think his tanking is a sort of defense mechanism, so that when he loses he can just tell himself he wasn't trying and his opponent wasn't better
 
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I don't see how he would be better than players liek tsonga or monfils. Both those guys had far more athletic potential than Kyrgios has ever had. At their peak they were both supremely gifted athletes, as well as having all the 'trick shots' that Kyrgios messes around with

I think a realistic scenario would be a Raonic like career in terms of achievements
 
His injuries are a direct result of his lack of motivation off court, if you couldn't be bothered puting in the hard yards in training sessions there's no way anyones body would hold up on the day to day grind at ATP level.

His full potential has already been reached, he won't go any further because his mind won't let him.

Maybe if he spent some serious time with a shrink this could still be turned around, unlikely though as the big man thinks he already knows it all.
 
Nadalgaenger said:
I get your point. I mean the whole notion of “potential” is highly problematic. Everyone is told that our potential for anything is sky high, and then life happens:)

You’re also right that a player’s brain is inextricably linked to his body, and despite some of the obvious talents he possesses, he does not seem to possess the true champion’s mentality. The Big 3 clearly have such a mentality. I haven’t observed it in Nick for any extended period of time.
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The interesting thing about Nick is that he always seem to bring it when he plays Nadal, Djokovic and Federer. If he could play with the same mentality against the rest of the field it would be very interesting.

At his best like in Marseille 2016 he is toying with the likes of Berdych and Cilic.
 
davced1 said:
The interesting thing about Nick is that he always seem to bring it when he plays Nadal, Djokovic and Federer. If he could play with the same mentality against the rest of the field it would be very interesting.
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This actually very interesting "fact" which many of us have noticed.. I mean in finnish tennisforum some guy said who has played in high level in Finland tennis and knows good the sport, that Nick is maybe "affraid" of losing to players who he thinks he should win and this case he many times seems "unmotivated" or acting injury etc etc.. Im not saying I think that, but its obv when you see him playing for example Roger that he has everytime in their three meetings showed his A-game. Than when he faces someone like Denis Kudla he seems unmotivated and lazy. I mean why is that? Of course there is other players who are just like him ( I know cause I bet a lot mens tennis and some are blacklisted as favourites like Fognini :p).

Edit. Im watching now FAA playing in Challengers, and this guy has the mentality of a winner and that's why he will prob win something big in his career. With Nick, its always BIG if...
 
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Nadalgaenger said:
...Nick has been hampered with injuries and has not always had the greatest mental stability.

So where WOULD/SHOULD he be ranked right now IF he were at his full potential?

I say 2nd or 3rd in the world, behind Nadal.
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But his injuries are part of his full potential.

If he was injured less he would be able to play more and win more. But then he'd also almost certainly get injured more given most of his issues are chronic rather than acute and caused by either the nature of the demands of tennis per se, or his physique.

I tend to think most players play about as much as their body can manage. If they're injured often it's because their limits are lower. That's why the truly top guys are not just talented ball-strikers like Kyrgios but also insane athletes who have a physical resilience which is much rarer than people often realise.

Pie in the sky though. If Kyrgios stayed injury free for a season he would be ranked about 8-12. Maybe he could have a short stint higher but if you look at the top 5 guys across a very long period very few have ever been his ilk of player (often flakey and moody regardless of physical health).
 
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Hardcourter said:
If Nicky boy had the athleticism of LB James, the movement of Djokovic/ De Minaur, the "head" of Nadal what do you think he would be in tennis world? :)
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He would be a Minotaur: half-man, half-bull. According to your description, Kyrgios would have the body of a human (LeBron James), and the head of a bull (Nadal).
 
The whole 'not trying' thing is exaggerated imo

He wasn't known as lazy when he was a junior, and his whole tanking schtick started in 2015. He trained and tried hard up until mid 2015. If you followed his instagram or twitter back then he posted training videos all the time. He would caption things as #NKrising, implying he was working hard and on the come up.

He has 'tried' at various points since then. Notably at this years aus open. In that tournament he was 22, coming off a good period of training and with solid form, yet he barely scraped by a broken down, out of sorts 32 year old Tsonga.

He and Tomic have similar stories. Worked hard in juniors, the wins came easy. Then when things stopped being so easy in the men's tour instead of doubling down and trying harder, they went the opposite way.
 
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