The tennis coaching guru explains why Nick Kyrgios has the best serve the ATP Tour has ever seen – as the Australian beats legends Pete Sampras and Andy Roddick
By Andrew Prentice for Daily Mail Australia
00:20 07 Mar 2023, updated 00:22 07 Mar 2023
- Nick Kyrgios’ serve movement was rated best in esports
- The Aussie finished ahead of tennis great Pete Sampras
- Andy Roddick, John Isner and Ivo Karlovic also in the top five
World-renowned tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou has opened up why he believes Nick Kyrgios has the best serve the sport has ever seen.
The polarizing Aussie, a Wimbledon singles finalist in 2022, landed ahead of US greats Pete Sampras and Andy Roddick on Mouratoglou’s list.
“Kyrgios is number one [overall] because today the players serve much better … and today he is undoubtedly the best,” said Mouratoglou in his Instagram clip.
Towering Croatian Ivo Karlovic – who has thundered 13,728 aces in his career – also graced the Frenchman’s top five alongside John Isner, who once won a five-set match against Nicolas Mahut at the All England Club, where his serve lasted for over eight hours was not interrupted.
In the longest match in sports history, Isner won the fifth set 70:68, with the first round match in 2010 lasting eleven hours and five minutes.
The epic match was also held over three days due to rain delays and poor light.
Apparently shocked by Mouratoglou’s high praise, Kyrgios shared the Instagram video with his 3.5million followers.
Of course, it was accompanied by five blue cold-faced emojis, presumably meaning Kyrgios thought the award was “cool”.
The 27-year-old, who grew up in Canberra, is yet to play in 2023 due to injury.
He is likely to be in the French Open main draw at the end of May as he “wants to take his girlfriend”. [Costeen Hatzi] to Paris” and the “extra money from Roland Garros will not hurt”.
Many tennis fans on social media felt Roger Federer’s classic serving movement should have appeared in the top 5, and others believed Novak Djokovic was a blatant omission.
Mouratoglou is best known for coaching Serena Williams from 2012 until her retirement last year.
He is currently working with Danish rising star Holger Rune and Romanian Simona Halep.
