Shanghai: This was Masters 1000 tennis as you might not know it. This was rock-paper-scissors determining who would return serve at deuce in the penultimate game. This was golf practice with racquets during a medical time-out. This, late on a cool Shanghai afternoon, was the warmly entertaining double(s) act of Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic.
Lleyton Hewitt's impending retirement has left a doubles vacancy in Australia's Davis Cup team, and, as potential auditions go, this was quite the show-stopper. Playing just their second match together, strife-prone pals Kyrgios and Tomic upstaged newly-crowned China Open champions Jack Sock and Vasek Pospisil 7-6 (7-3), 7-5.
The Australians, doubles part-timers who had each won just three matches with different partners all season, wore matching black-and-white Nike, served thunderously, played up to the crowd, and – back-slappingly – with each other. As well as the requisite fist-bumping between points, there was a jovial lack of earnestness balanced by some quality shot-making before a packed and appreciative court-four house.
Kyrgios, so irritated by cameramen and ballkids and much else that punctuated his first-round singles win over Andreas Haider-Maurer on Monday, was jaunty and relaxed; Tomic, who has had his own dramas in recent months, was similarly chilled in the lower-stakes, lower-key setting.
When a Kyrgios winner converted the pair's initial set point in the tiebreak, his older partner was mock-reverential. After ripping a forehand return winner for 15-40 at 5-5 in the second set, Tomic turned to see his mate frozen in rigid disbelief/awe. One suspects, though, that Sock and Pospisil, both with top 20 doubles rankings, might have been slightly less impressed.
"They've just come from winning (in Beijing), so it's tough for them," said Tomic. "They have to come here, they have two days (to prepare) and we're serving good, so it's tough for them. It's not really doubles, it's just serve."
"Me and Bernard played pretty well at the US Open a couple of years ago," added Kyrgios, the young pair having lost the 2014 opening round in New York in three close sets. "Moving forward in Davis Cup I think it's an option. Obviously (Tomic) returns well and he knows how to serve. That's doubles these days: just serve and return."
And, in this case, apparently, swing, enjoy, win. So who is the better doubles player? Tomic, unhesitatingly: "Nick". Kyrgios: "Um... I'd say Bernard." Tomic: "We're never gonna (agree on) this, so next question."
OK. So are these "strategies" such as rock-paper-scissors part of the bold new future of doubles? "Yes. Absolutely," quipped Tomic. "It eases off the mind and allows you to focus on the point when you need it most."
Or not. Although, admittedly, it worked this time. Afterwards, Sock charged straight to the locker-room, leaving Pospisil in his wake, while the Aussie colts ambled back and into the second round against third seeds Marcin Matkowski and Nenad Zimonjic. "You can not be serious," some old tennis player once said. Indeed.
Linda Pearce is a guest of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
