Nick Kyrgios has added the strawberries and cream to his dazzling season with the Newcombe Medal as Australia’s most outstanding tennis player of year.
The 19-year-old excitement machine edged out veteran grand slam champions Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur and rising Casey Dellacqua to become the youngest recipient of the prestigious award.
Kyrgios was acclaimed at a gala ceremony at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium on Monday night.
Kyrgios stunned the sporting world with his earth-moving fourth-round win over Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, in doing so becoming the first teenager since Nadal in 2005 to topple a world No.1 at a grand slam.
He also nervelessly and spectacularly saved nine match points against highly-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet en route to the quarter-finals at the All England Club.
But proving his Wimbledon heroics no fluke, the 2013 Australian Open junior champion delivered a stylish encore in New York, blitzing two-times US Open semi-finalist Mikhail Youzhny to reach the last 32 before running out of steam against wily Spaniard Tommy Robredo.
Kyrgios called an end to his exhausting 2014 campaign shortly after helping guide Australia back into the Davis Cup World Group.
After starting the season ranked 183rd in the world, he finished at No.52 – just two spots below Hewitt, the year-end men’s Australian No.1 once again at almost 34.
Hewitt, like Stosur and Dellacqua, also mounted a strong case for Newcombe Medal honours.
The former world No.1 rolled back the years to secure two ATP titles for the first time in a decade, conquering Roger Federer in the Brisbane International final and reigning in singles and doubles on the grass courts of Newport.
Bidding for a fourth “Newk”, Stosur defied a chronic foot injury to end the year impressively with a successful title defence at the Japan Open.
The 30-year-old also won the Wimbledon mixed doubles with Serbian Nenad Zimonjic and finished 2014 as Australia’s highest-ranked player – man or woman – at world No.22, seven spots above Dellacqua.
Dellacqua also would have been a worthy Newcombe Medallist.
After reaching three grand slam doubles finals in 2013, Dellacqua switched her focus to singles this year and powered into the last 16 at Melbourne Park and Flushing Meadows to slash her ranking from 142nd to a career-high 26th in September.
NEWCOMBE MEDAL ROLL OF HONOUR
2010: Samantha Stosur
2011: Samantha Stosur
2012: Samantha Stosur
2013: Lleyton Hewitt
2014: Nick Kyrgios
