Nick Kyrgios will be punished rather than rewarded for his run to the Wimbledon final with his world ranking set to tumble instead of rising.
The Australian star’s series of wins to make to the final against Novak Djokovic could have seen him surge to No.13 in the world rankings, but instead he will drop from No.40 to No.45.
It comes after Wimbledon elected to ban all Russian and Belarusian players from competing in 2022 in protest of the ongoing Ukraine War.
Nick Kyrgios of Australia shows the fans his runners-up plate after losing to Novak Djokovic of Serbia in their men’s singles final at Wimbledon
In response to that stand, the ATP and WTA not only removed ranking points from the 2022 Wimbledon tournament, but also froze points earned at the 2021 event.
Even though he lost the final, Kyrgios would have moved up into the world top 20 which would have opened up plenty of doors and resulted in easier draws at coming tournaments.
However, the news might not be completely devastating for Kyrgios, who probably wouldn’t appreciate the added expectations to compete at ATP tournaments around the world that come with a ranking inside the top 30.
‘I don’t particularly play in tournaments for ranking points,’ Kyrgios said on Saturday before the final.
‘As a kid, when I watched Wimbledon, when I wanted to play it, I wasn’t thinking about ranking points.
‘I was thinking about playing in the most prestigious tournament in the world. That’s all I’m here for.’
Russian Daniil Medvedev world No.1 will remain in top spot after he was banned from competing at Wimbledon
Djokovic will tumble to No.7 in the world rankings despite winning a record-equalling 21st grand slam title.
He will now sit behind the likes of Casper Ruud and Carlos Alcaraz who have never even contested a grand slam final, let alone won one.
Wimbledon ladies finalist Ons Jabeur, who will drop from No.2 to No.5 after losing to Moscow-born but Kazakhstan representative Elena Rybakina in the women’s final, said it was unfair on those who chose to play.
‘I’m not going to lie to you. The more you do good, the more you regret not getting any points,’ she said.
Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan poses with the trophy after winning the women’s final match against Ons Jabeur of Tunisia at Wimbledon
‘I don’t just look at myself, but I also look at Tatjana [Maria]. Now she makes a good run, and she doesn’t have points.’
Meanwhile, the Djokovic camp has identified the moment in the final when they knew they had Kyrgios beaten.
Goran Ivanišević famously won Wimbledon in 2001 against Aussie Pat Rafter and currently coaches Djokovic.
Novak Djokovic’s coach and former Wimbledon winner Ivanisevic watches nervously from the stands. He said they knew the game was won when Kyrgios started talking
He said the key to beating Kyrgios was to ‘wait for him to talk’ and said they knew they had him on the rack when he began to erupt at his supporter’s box, the crowd, the umpire and himself in the third set.
‘You cannot prepare for a match against Nick Kyrgios. Nick Kyrgios is a … tennis genius. He doesn’t know what he’s going to play next in the point,’ Ivanisevic said.
‘When somebody is serving like Nick Kyrgios, for me [he], is the best server in the game by far. Unbelievable tennis player. He’s very unpredictable.
‘Key point was to concentrate on what Novak has to do, and just to stick to those little things to be ready for the big serves, for the big second-serve winners.
Djokovic and Kyrgios share a moment as they leave Centre Court following their epic final
‘But also, he knew at this stage, when Nick starts to talk, he’s going to be vulnerable. You know, that happened. Happened in the third set.’
Djokovic said Kyrgios would ‘probably be very upset with himself’ after dramatically giving up that game in the third set.
‘I obviously wanted to play every point regardless of being 40-love down. Just wanted to practise trying to get his serves back, eventually wait for the opportunity,’ Djokovic said.
‘He played maybe a couple of loose points, double fault, deuce, started talking to his box. I felt maybe that’s the moment where I could break his serve, which happened.
‘It was a huge momentum shift, I think, because up to that point we were quite even. Two sets to one up, obviously things are looking slightly different.’
