BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL SUNCORP ATP TENNIS CHAMPION 2018 IS NICK KYRGIOS • KONTINEN/PEERS WIN THE DOUBLES

Written by: Staff on 7th January 2018

Brisbane International tennis tournament

BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL SUNCORP ATP TENNIS CHAMPION 2018 IS NICK KYRGIOS • KONTINEN/PEERS WIN THE DOUBLES

epa06422064 General view of Pat Rafter Arena during the men's doubles final played between Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia against Leonardo Mayer and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina at the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament in Brisbane, Australia, 07 January 2018. EPA-EFE/DARREN ENGLAND EDITORIAL USE ONLY AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

General view of Pat Rafter Arena during the men’s doubles final played between Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia against Leonardo Mayer and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina at the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament in Brisbane, Australia, 07 January 2018. EPA-EFE/DARREN ENGLAND

Editors Notes: It’s Great to see Nick finally settling into his life.

He really has been such a “Stormy Genius”. He has such a big Heart. He has such a huge talent, but he also has such a big ego and is a big baby at times. Or can have such a bad attitude and such a big mouth… Only equal to his big forehand.

But so misunderstood. Nick spends time trying to help sick kids and is establishing his foundation to help them.

Or maybe he is still grieving the loss of his grandparents. And all with a big spotlight on you. But the guy just wasn’t “happy”.

10sBalls always believed in him. We saw Andy Murray reaching out to help him. His best move is staying away from the pouty stuff. He is witty and charming and appears to be in love again. Life on the tennis tour is a torturous year of travel and no one feels it more than the Aussies. They can be gone from their beautiful country for 5/6 months at a time. The true definition of “journeyman”… Nick. Stay on course. Lots of time to prove you are one of the best athletes to play our sport.

RESULTS

Singles – Final

[3] N. Kyrgios (AUS) d R. Harrison (USA) 64 62

Doubles – Final

[1] H. Kontinen (FIN) / J. Peers (AUS) d L. Mayer (ARG) / H. Zeballos (ARG) 36 63 10-2

Nick Kyrgios of Australia poses with his winner’s trophy after defeating Ryan Harrison of USA in the Men’s final at the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament in Brisbane, Australia, 07 January 2018. EPA-EFE/DARREN ENGLAND

KYRGIOS EARNS FIRST TITLE IN AUSTRALIA; KONTINEN/PEERS PREVAIL

– Nick Kyrgios defeats Ryan Harrison to earn his fourth ATP World Tour title and his first tour-level trophy in his home country of Australia.

– The 22-year-old got through three three-setters before prevailing in straight sets in the championship match.

– Kyrgios is projected to return to the Top 20 of the ATP Rankings on Monday at No. 17.

– Harrison is now 1-2 in finals, also losing to Isner in the 2017 Atlanta championship match. The American earned his first title in Memphis last year.

– Henri Kontinen and John Peers, the two-time defending Nitto ATP Finals champions, picked up where they left off at the end of 2017, winning their 11th title (10-1) in Brisbane.

– Kontinen, who claimed his 19th trophy overall, and Peers, who captured No. 17, won their first title together in Brisbane two years ago.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

• ️Nick Kyrgios

“Came back from a set down three times and against three pretty good opponents. And for me, that’s just confidence not only mentally but physically as well, and battling and fighting hard. And it’s good to see the work I was doing in the offseason is paying off. But pretty happy with my performance today.”

“I didn’t know what kind of performance I was going to put in this week, whether I was going to do well. But as the week went on, I felt that I was serving a lot better, hitting the ball better. And I knew today was obviously a great opportunity.”

• Ryan Harrison Said:

“His level is very high. I think that we all know how well he can play. He brought a very high level today. And playing out here in Australia, he’s obviously very motivated and very comfortable. You know, he’s going to be a danger to beat anybody that he plays whenever he plays like that. I think that it’s nothing new, though, for him. He knows that and he knows he has the level.”

• Henri Kontinen

“Matches like this today, doesn’t matter if it’s a final of a 250 or a [Grand] Slam or any other big event, or bigger on paper. I just enjoy the feeling of being out there. So hopefully we’ve got a lot of these matches coming up this year.”

• John Peers Said:

“We stuck a couple of points here in the first set, and then we snuck out of my first service game in the second set. And then we just got momentum going our way. And then actually played a really, really good tie-breaker at the end. So a lot of fun to finish off the tournament that way.”