Nick Kyrgios defeats Daniil Medvedev at the US Open
The wild Australian is far from perfect but he played exhilarating tennis to defeat the world No.1 at the US Open.
It’s an hour after Nick Kyrgios has beaten Daniil Medvedev at Flushing Meadows. He has earned praise from the world No.1 that his performance is on par with the modern greats Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
“Nick today played kind of at the level of Novak and Rafa,” said the 26-year-old Medvedev after seeing 21 aces and 53 winners speed past him.
“He has a little bit different game because he’s not a grinder. At the same time he can rally. He’s tough to play. He has an amazing serve.
“But from baseline it’s not like when the point starts, you know that you have the advantage. He plays good. He has every shot.
“If he plays like this until the end of the tournament, he has all the chances to win it.”
It’s creeping towards midnight. A kid from Maine is holding a marker pen and an oversized tennis ball. He calls out in a desperate voice. Please, Nick! Please! Can you please sign this for me? Kyrgios says he’ll be back in a sec. He has to do an interview first.
An interesting discussion ensues. He’s played out of his skin for an exhilarating 7-6 (13-11), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over the world No.1. Now he’s hunched in his chair, pulling his cap down over his eyes and doing what he’s been increasingly open to doing during this career and life revival of his. Laying himself bare.
Six times in one interview he says “honest” or “honestly.” Sitting here listening to him speak quietly and soberly after a performance truly electrifying, all you can really do is tip your hat to the youngish fella. He still ain’t perfect, but he’s less imperfect than he used to be.
How perfect is that? Who isn’t a work in progress? Kyrgios used to grunt and groan and roll his eyes and suck his teeth during post-match Q and A sessions. Now he seems in no particular hurry to get out the door and sign the oversized ball belonging to the kid from Maine. He’s gone from tanking matches and having suicidal thoughts to being tantalisingly close to a major championship and finding a settled personal life.
“Proud of the way that I’ve bounced back after everything. Honestly,” he said. “Like, I’ve been in some really tough situations mentally and in some really scary places. Obviously if you look at it on paper, I probably wasn’t expected to win that match. Maybe take a set or two if I’m lucky. Give the people a show.
“It’s a great win but I come off the court and I’m just almost relieved that it’s over because there’s just so much pressure every time I go out on court. So much expectation. So much unpredictability of what I can do. I just sit there in the locker room after and I’m just super proud of the performance because there was really a time where I didn’t think I was capable of producing and doing this anymore. I guess I’m just relieved and super proud.”
Asked how he’d turned his career around, Kyrgios said: “I definitely think that I’ve improved some of my weaknesses. I really analysed what I had to get better at at the start of the year. I’ve worked on it really hard but I don’t know where it’s come from, honestly. I really don’t.
“I feel like I just mentally struggled so hard for like the first six, seven years of my career. I had great results, shocking results, tried really hard, then tanking. I just didn’t know how to deal with it. I honestly didn’t know how to deal with any of it. It was hard.
“I beat myself up way too hard. It was unhealthy … People were really starting to doubt my ability to pull out matches like this at majors. I’m really proud of myself, honestly, because it hasn’t been easy dealing with all the criticism.”
He added: “I look back, it was just all a learning process to now because I’ve matured so much. I feel like I kind of embrace it all. When I’m playing bad I embrace it. When I’m playing good I embrace it. But I stay the same, whereas before I used to just ride the highs and lows way too much and I was exhausted.
“I didn’t know how to deal with everything else, as well. Now I feel like I’m just kind of – I know the process now of what it takes to get to a final of a grand slam. Not to win it yet, but to get to the final. I know the process. You can’t avoid it. Obviously there’s controversy, there’s flare, there’s this, there’s that. But the discipline as well as the hard work intertwined … ”
Kyrgios could have won Wimbledon. Had Novak Djokovic on toast in the final. He faces Russia’s world No.31 Karen Khachanov for a place in the semi-finals.
“I felt like when I was really struggling mentally, I was very selfish,” Kyrgios said. “I felt like, ‘I feel bad, I don’t want to play.’ Then I looked at the people closest to me and how much I was letting them down and I didn’t want to do that anymore. Then, I don’t know, I just tried to just look at my career.
“I was like, I feel like I’ve got so much left to give to the sport. That’s it. I just trained hard. I just put my head down. Look, let’s get in shape, better shape, first of all. Let’s see how it goes.”
He said: “Then, I don’t know. Obviously winning helps. I’ve been winning a lot this year. The motivation has been there. It’s easy to train. It’s easier to wake up obviously when things are going great. I was just really sick of letting people down. Just feeling like that – I feel like I’m making people proud now. I feel like there’s not as much negative things being said about me. I just wanted to turn the narrative around, almost. That’s basically it. I just was feeling so depressed all the time, feeling so sorry for myself. I just wanted to change that. I just feel like I’m playing for a lot more than myself. I’ve just got a lot of motivation at the moment. If I win a grand slam, I don’t know how much motivation I’d have afterwards because it’s extremely hard to do.”
Kyrgios spat towards the umpire. Imperfect. Was warned for an audible obscenity. Imperfect. Twice smashed his racquet onto the court. Imperfect. Made a wally of a volley from the wrong side of the net that was funnier than Jimmy Fallon and cost him a point. Had a moment of madness in which he slogged a ball against the back fence. It could have struck a ball kid or spectator and caused a Djokovic-style disqualification. Imperfect.
But sitting here inside Arthur Ashe Stadium while the masses went bonkers for him, while they leapt from their seats for the Pat Rafter-esque backhand volleys and the monster forehands that did everything except grab Daniil Medvedev by the throat on the way past, the most staggering and significant part of this wild old victory was the palpable sense that he was the better player. Kyrgios was up against the world No.1 and he was superior in every department. For those final two sets, after the volley he called “boneheaded,” his tennis was pretty much perfect. “I didn’t over-celebrate,” he said. “It’s only fourth round.”
Now it’s nearly midnight. The kid from Maine sees Kyrgios again. Come on, Nick! Please? You said you would! No luck. The kid tucks his unsigned ball under his arm and trudges away.
Additional reporting: AFP
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