Is Nick Kyrgios a youtube serve bot?

[George Turner]

We've heard plenty about how talented Nick is, he comes up with some flashy youtube shots including tweeners that make us think this way.

But tennis matches are won by winning 2 or 3 sets, not by youtube shots. And over the course of a match, is Kyrgios primarily a serve bot?

We all know he's a good server, but his return stats are actually quite shocking.

vs top 50 players his career percentage of return games won currently stands at 13.6 percent. This is less than serve bots Greg Rusedski and Sam Querrey, only slightly better than Milos Raonic and Kevin Anderson (the latter won just 15 points against Nadals serve in the US open final.) it's not as bad as the likes of Karlovic and Isner, who are on less than 10%, but for a *super talented* player 13.6% is pretty dire.

In contrast Nadal, Djokovic and Murray are around 30%. Federer is around 25%. Serve-Volley players Pete Sampras, Patrick Rafter, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg all have better return stats than Kyrgios and these guys played in a era where returning serve was more difficult.

Judging by this, is Kyrgios simply a serve bot who also comes up with some flashy youtube shots? Is his all round talent over-rated?

Source http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/stats/leaderboard?page=serve

 

[Stratsworth]

Servebotiness mixed with occasional flashes of brilliance. Like a Raonic & Monfils lovechild.

 

[George Turner]

That's pretty accurate lol.

 

[DRII]

when he's on he can't beat anybody.

of course his game revolves around his serve, which is one of the best ever in the game, but he has other assets when he chooses to use them.

 

[Sport]

He is obviously a servebot. Just a servebot with massive talent. Yu can see the difference between his game and a non-servebot such as Shapovalov.

 

[Alba Barragan]

Finally, someone says it!

Yep, he's a glorified servebot, adored by people who are so blinded by his flashy shots and gaudy personality they can no longer see the painful truth

 

[TheFifthSet]

We've heard plenty about how talented Nick is, he comes up with some flashy youtube shots including tweeners that make us think this way.

But tennis matches are won by winning 2 or 3 sets, not by youtube shots. And over the course of a match, is Kyrgios primarily a serve bot?

We all know he's a good server, but his return stats are actually quite shocking.

vs top 50 players his career percentage of return games won currently stands at 13.6 percent. This is less than serve bots Greg Rusedski and Sam Querrey, only slightly better than Milos Raonic and Kevin Anderson (the latter won just 15 points against Nadals serve in the US open final.) it's not as bad as the likes of Karlovic and Isner, who are on less than 10%, but for a *super talented* player 13.6% is pretty dire.

In contrast Nadal, Djokovic and Murray are around 30%. Federer is around 25%. Serve-Volley players Pete Sampras, Patrick Rafter, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg all have better return stats than Kyrgios and these guys played in a era where returning serve was more difficult.

Judging by this, is Kyrgios simply a serve bot who also comes up with some flashy youtube shots? Is his all round talent over-rated?

Source http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/stats/leaderboard?page=serve

Agree w/mostly everything except returning serve being harder in the '90s--return numbers were actually higher then.

I've been saying it since he broke through at Wimby in 2014, Kyrgios' game is exciting, and he might have a few slams in him...but he also has a ceiling. His return game will prevent him from being a truly dominant player.

 

[BeatlesFan]

And over the course of a match, is Kyrgios primarily a serve bot?

Watch the entire Fed-Nick match from Miami this year. This is still the best match of the year by far with the highest quality from both players. No way is Nick just a serve bot like Ivo. He's massively talented.

 

[Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil]

Not exactly a servebot but still uninteresting most of the time.

 

[Purplemonster]

We've heard plenty about how talented Nick is, he comes up with some flashy youtube shots including tweeners that make us think this way.

But tennis matches are won by winning 2 or 3 sets, not by youtube shots. And over the course of a match, is Kyrgios primarily a serve bot?

We all know he's a good server, but his return stats are actually quite shocking.

vs top 50 players his career percentage of return games won currently stands at 13.6 percent. This is less than serve bots Greg Rusedski and Sam Querrey, only slightly better than Milos Raonic and Kevin Anderson (the latter won just 15 points against Nadals serve in the US open final.) it's not as bad as the likes of Karlovic and Isner, who are on less than 10%, but for a *super talented* player 13.6% is pretty dire.

In contrast Nadal, Djokovic and Murray are around 30%. Federer is around 25%. Serve-Volley players Pete Sampras, Patrick Rafter, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg all have better return stats than Kyrgios and these guys played in a era where returning serve was more difficult.

Judging by this, is Kyrgios simply a serve bot who also comes up with some flashy youtube shots? Is his all round talent over-rated?

Source http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/stats/leaderboard?page=serve

Pretty much sums it up. Just need to add idiot after rated.

 

[Freddy Cat]

His groundstrokes are atrocious. Bunt of a backhand, and while he can be very strong off the forehand, it can get "whip" and loopy like Gasquet's. His serve is one of the best, and when it's in gear, probably just as good as a Raonic serve. Am amazed at where he is, even with how good his serve is.

 

[styksnstryngs]

His balls are huge to second serve like he does on big points.

Or maybe he just doesn't care.

 

[BeatlesFan]

His groundstrokes are atrocious.

Absurd. Nobody with "atrocious" ground strokes beats ATG's like Djoker, Nadal and Fed. He beat Djoker this year twice in a two week period.

 

[styksnstryngs]

Absurd. Nobody with "atrocious" ground strokes beats ATG's like Djoker, Nadal and Fed. He beat Djoker this year twice in a two week period.

I agree. His groundstrokes aren't the issue, it's his shot selection... he said as much in a recent instagram post.

 

[George Turner]

Absurd. Nobody with "atrocious" ground strokes beats ATG's like Djoker, Nadal and Fed. He beat Djoker this year twice in a two week period.

He still needs to significantly improve his return game to win majors and to justify the talent he's hyped up to be.

Statistically there's only one worse returner than Kyrgios whose won a major in recent times (Johansson, 2002 Aus open.)

 

[Yoneyama]

Why do people waste all this mental time and effort thinking up ways to shoot down Kyrgios?

Put a Kyrgios match side by side to a proper "servebot" like Isner or Karlovic and you will see clearly that he is not a "servebot".

He can actually rally balls, vary his strokes between flat and fast to extremely loopy and spin loaded, AND pull off outrageous trick shots. Serve bots serve, hit some disfunctional forehands, and then call it a day when they get hit to any other area of the court.

 

[JRAJ1988]

His serve has servebot like qualities but when you rally Nick he's a talent and he has an arsenal of weapons, like that Forehand, backhand has improved and net skills second to Dustin Brown who is the master of the cheeky touch .

 

[Yoneyama]

His mindset and outlook on the game is likely the reason for his low return %. He plays for himself, and for the fans. He doesn't necessarily play to defeat his opponents, but plays to enjoy the game and please the fans... There is more value in his own game than there is in deconstructing his opponents serve.

 

[George Turner]

Why do people waste all this mental time and effort thinking up ways to shoot down Kyrgios?

Put a Kyrgios match side by side to a proper "servebot" like Isner or Karlovic and you will see clearly that he is not a "servebot".

He can actually rally balls, vary his strokes between flat and fast to extremely loopy and spin loaded, AND pull off outrageous trick shots. Serve bots serve, hit some disfunctional forehands, and then call it a day when they get hit to any other area of the court.

Isner and Karlovic are very extreme servebots, there's been very few players like that. Wayne Arthurs and Sam Groth are a couple of other guys like that. Groth is one of the worst players i've ever seen on tour level.

Aside from them there's a lot of other players whose games are serve dominated. Kyrgios can be put in the same league as Raonic.

 

[Yoneyama]

Serve domination does not equal servebot... especially when people use that term to describe the likes of Isner, Karlovic and so on given that their games ARE their serves. Nicks serve dominates yes but his groundstrokes and other 'techniques' are extremely good. Watch some court level practice videos shot by amateurs and you will see the intensity of spin that comes off his forehand. The motion can seem loop and gasquet-like as someone else mentioned, but the way it kicks up is very powerful... His backhand would be the weakest of the lot but it is fairly dependable and still a whole lot better than a lot of players.

 

[vex]

Servebotiness mixed with occasional flashes of brilliance. Like a Raonic & Monfils lovechild.

^ /thread

 

[Freddy Cat]

Absurd. Nobody with "atrocious" ground strokes beats ATG's like Djoker, Nadal and Fed. He beat Djoker this year twice in a two week period.