‘Nick Kyrgios is a serving machine’ – Australian compared to Pete Sampras after Wimbledon clinic

Mats Wilander has compared Nick Kyrgios’ serve to that of the great Pete Sampras as the Australian won again at Wimbledon.

Kyrgios faced a tough match up in the round of 16 against American Brandon Nakashima, with him needing all five sets to eventually get over the line.

Although Kyrgios was not at his best, he was still able to rely on his serve, and Eurosport expert Wilander has given it his highest praise.

“Nick Kyrgios is just such a serving machine,” Wilander said. “Yes, there have been better servers in the game – I guess John Isner is considered a better server.

“Pete Sampras? It’s very close to Pete, the second serve is perhaps not quite so good. But the first serve of Nick Kyrgios is so good, so steady, he gets in this rhythm that he looks like he cannot miss.

“This is what kids need to imitate from Nick Kyrgios, the service motion. It’s unbelievable.”

Wilander was speaking after another fine Kyrgios performance at Wimbledon, as he moved into the quarterfinals with a win over Brandon Nakashima.

He wasn’t at his most fluid, but he certainly seemed more focused than we are used to seeing and he was able to win it in the final set. He, though, says a lot of credit must go to his opponent.

“I was really impressed with just Brandon today,” Kyrgios said. “Honestly, I didn’t watch too much of his matches before today.

“Obviously I looked at the draw. Looked at some of the people he beat. Shapovalov, he won juniors here, so I knew that Nakashima was going to bring a pretty good level today.

“I just felt so many areas of his game were impressive for me. Second serve was unbelievable. I wasn’t able to attack it. His backhand was so good. Any time he got on a return, I felt like he pushed it back in play.

“For me, I knew from the get-go I wasn’t playing as well as I would have liked. I wasn’t feeling the ball like I was against Tsitsipas or Krajinovic.

“I knew I had to keep my head down and just battle today. It was a good mental performance.”