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Nick Kyrgios' talent is unmatched, according to former World No. 4 Brad Gilbert. The famed tennis coach weighed in on the mental aspect of the game and remarked that things would have been different if the Australian player had a slightly different approach towards tennis.
Kyrgios is yet to play his first match of the season as he continues his recovery from a knee injury. His last singles match came at the Japan Open in October 2022. Although he participated in a couple of exhibition matches, the knee issue aggravated, forcing him to withdraw from the 2023 Australian Open.
After undergoing surgery successfully in January, his manager Daniel Horsfall revealed that the World No. 22 was targeting the ongoing BNP Paribas Open for a return. However, he eventually withdrew from the tournament where he lost to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals last year.
Speaking on The Craig Shapiro Tennis podcast recently, Gilbert stated that Nick Kyrgios was probably the most talented player on the men's circuit.
"Obviously, the one player who maybe has the most talent that you wish that maybe there were some things that he could do a little bit differently is Kyrgios," Gilbert said. "But then again, maybe if he did have this, maybe it wouldn't work for him. You don't know."
The 61-year-old added that the difference between the first and the 100th-ranked players could not just be attributed to mental strength but also the skillset.
"I do find that a lot of times now that everybody feels like the difference between No. 1 and 100 is just mental. I say if it was really that simple, everybody would be great. There is a lot of difference between 1 and 100 in skillset. But I do think that having kind of a good mental resolve, it kind of helps you be a little more resilient," he added.
Nick Kyrgios makes it to Brad Gilbert's list of greatest men's servers in the 2010s
Brad Gilbert, who coached the likes of Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, and Andy Murray, recently shared a list of who he thought were the best servers among the men. For the period from the 1980s to the 1990s, Gilbert put Pete Sampras at the top, followed by Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic.
For the decade of 2000s, it was Roger Federer at No. 1, and Roddick and Ivo Karlovic in the second and third positions, respectively. From the 2010s to 2020s, Gilbert placed John Isner at the top and Nick Kyrgios in second place, followed by Federer.
Nick Kyrgios' serve is considered to be his biggest weapon. It also helped him reach his maiden Grand Slam final at the 2022 Wimbledon, where he lost to Novak Djokovic in four sets.
