Nick Kyrgios has decidedly beaten Uruguayan, Pablo Cuevas in his second round match of the Australian Open on Wednesday night.
On Monday night the Australian was also super impressive, beating another unfancied Pablo -- in the shape of Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta. Both his game and his mind looked in fine working order. But his body looked great too. Nick Kyrgios moved like a cat out there on Hisense Arena.
This has got us wondering: Who is his fitness guy? It turns out that his strength and conditioning coach is a bloke called Matt James, who told us that Nick Kyrgios hasn't peaked as an athlete or player yet.
"Nick is a naturally gifted athlete. If he wasn't playing tennis, he without a shadow of a doubt would be playing another sport like basketball at the highest level. He is a very hard worker and gives his all when he is in training. He is extremely competitive and always wants to win, whether it's at tennis, basketball or FIFA PlayStation," James said.
"He brings quality and intensity to everything he does. As an athlete, he definitely hasn't peaked, we are just at the start of the journey with him both as a player and athlete."
Anyone who's watched Kyrgios on court gets the impression that the 20-year-old Canberran doesn't exactly have the world's longest attention span. No surprise, then, that Matty James said one of the keys to working with Kyrgios was to vary things up a little.
"A lot of the training I do with him is not just in the gym. I try to make it fun and introduce non-traditional disciplines into his regimen. We play basketball, mini tennis, we use the Ankorr System [a fitness trend using harnesses], the prowler [a type of sled] for sprint repeat efforts and a lot of tractor tyre flips, sled drags, farmers walks [walks with weights] and others.
"I find this to be the most effective way to increase his load and volume while minimising a chance of injury."
We asked Matty James if he thought modern tennis players are fitter than just about any other type of athlete. He said it was hard to compare sports, but he did remind us that without supreme fitness, you can forget about it making it as a tennis player.
"Tennis is one of the most physically demanding sports and if you are not extremely fit, you have no chance of competing with the other players.
"Tennis requires high intensity repetitions and incredible endurance and an ability for the body to recover fast. The Grand Slams are particularly taxing on the body as it’s not uncommon for a match to last four to five hours and sometimes the matches have to be played back to back."
Hey Matty, tell us about it. Those back to back matches are gruelling for us couch fans too.
As well as exercising, Kyrgios follows a strict diet to ensure his body is supported with the right nutrients. Before games and training sessions, he takes a high-strength magnesium zinc complex to help support bone strength and blood flow.