Maybe I don’t know how to spot it but does one say he is talented? I believe every player in the top 20 is a talent in some way. The big 3 in hindsight to me are talents because they won a bucket load but I honestly do not know how to say ‘this guy is talented’ especially when he has little to backup. His serve is great but so is Raonic’s?
I was never a Kyrgios fan but for me he was incredibly talented. Talent is a loaded word, so maybe I should say he had abilities that separated him from the bulk of the tour.
He had racquetface awareness that not many outside Wawrinka, Nadal and Federer had. It always seemed like even in rapid fire net exchanges his contact point was always perfect and he could flush the ball.
He also had a very live arm which meant he could inject pace at will and leave an opponent completely stranded. And his touch meant that he had a massive variety in levels of ball speed.
He could also read the ball amazingly, which meant it was almost impossible to hit into his strengths with pace and he was also extremely creative in the way he could deceive opponents and/or win points with a single shot.
The trouble for Kyrgios is that he was so deadly with a single shot, that he neglected the finer arts of court craft and building a point with multiple shots. His point construction abilities, particularly building a point from the return were wildly below par when compared with the rest of his game.
He should have become one of the most dangerous floaters on tour but instead he became very serve dominant and put limits on himself with a horrible return game and relying on winners rather than constant pressure to win points.