Wimbledon Men's Final Preview: After the fireworks settle, will Novak Djokovic or Nick Kyrgios erupt as champion?

WATCH: Semifinal highlights from Djokovic's latest win

“Hopefully I see you Sunday,” Novak Djokovic told Nick Kyrgios in an Instagram message earlier this week.

It was the latest episode in the unexpected “bromance”—Kyrgios’ word—that has developed between the Australian and the Serb this season. Once upon a time, Kyrgios went out of his way to mock and antagonize Djokovic. The thaw began when he did a 180 in January and offered his support during Djokovic’s days of deportation Down Under.

“It’s real weird,” Kyrgios says, “I think everyone knows there was no love lost there.”

Will Kyrgios’ softening toward Djokovic off the court have any effect on the way he plays him on it? These two have faced off twice, both times on hard courts in spring 2017, and both times a fired-up Kyrgios won in two close sets, each of which featured a tiebreaker. Kyrgios played with an intensity and emotion in those best-of-three-set matches that he probably won’t be able to replicate in best-of-five, in his first Grand Slam final. That should help Djokovic.

Which leads us to our next question: How will Kyrgios react to playing in a Wimbledon final, and the grand, formal, cut-the-tension-with-a-knife atmosphere that fills Centre Court on that occasion? Djokovic has already experienced it seven times, and has come away a winner in six of those matches.

“That’s where Djokovic has the advantage from the get-go,” Kyrgios said. “He can draw from experience, he’s done it so many more times, he knows the emotions he’s going to be feeling.”

“I feel like I’m just a reckless ball of energy right now,” he admitted. “I know that I have to kind of just calm down.”

Normally, you might expect Kyrgios to come out guns blazing, and Djokovic to ease his way into the match and maybe drop the first set, the way he did in his quarterfinal and semifinal wins over Jannik Sinner and Cam Norrie, and the way he did in last year’s final against Matteo Berrettini. If Kyrgios can’t find his equilibrium quickly, he may squander a chance to jump out to an early lead and put immediate pressure on Djokovic.

I feel like I’m just a reckless ball of energy right now. Nick Kyrgios

But Djokovic isn’t banking on Kyrgios having trouble adjusting to the moment.

“The experience that I have at this level, playing in the finals against someone that has never played a Grand Slam final, could be slightly in my favor,” Djokovic said. “But at the same time, knowing who he is and how he goes about his tennis and his attitude on the court, he doesn’t seem to be falling under pressure much.”

“He plays lights-out every time he steps out onto the court. Just a lot of power in his serve and his game. So I’m sure he’s going to go for it. No doubt he’s going to be aggressive. I expect him to do that.”

Kyrgios will punch with his serve, Djokovic will counterpunch with his return. It may take a little while, but at some point Djokovic will begin to read Kyrgios’ deliveries and get his teeth into his service games. Once Djokovic did that in the quarters and semis, and once he eliminated the early nervous errors from the baseline, Sinner and Norrie had no answers. Will Kyrgios? Will he have another gear, another level of aggression that he can reach? He has the shot-making talent, and he has done it against Djokovic on smaller stages before. But this is a stage where Djokovic hasn’t lost for nine years.

Whatever chaos, or fireworks, or weird brotherly love, happens during the match, it’s hard to bet against Djokovic finding a way to get it done again. Winner: Djokovic