Nadal turns back Kyrgios to reach quarterfinals
MELBOURNE, Australia – Rafael Nadal left the muttering and the preening, the underarm serving and the 'tweening, to his younger, flashier opponent, Nick Kyrgios.
Surely, Nadal was content to collect the win in the latest installment of their rivalry.
The No. 1-ranked Nadal kept his thoughts to himself and limited his shot-making to the more traditional variety in an entertaining, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4), victory over home-crowd favorite Kyrgios on Monday to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals and get closer to a record-tying 20th Grand Slam title.
These two guys don't like each other. But Nadal had nothing but nice things to say after improving his head-to-head record to 5-3 against Kyrgios.
“When he wants to play, when he is focused on what he's doing, I think he's a very important player for our sport,” Nadal said, “because he has a big talent and is one of these players that can be very, very interesting for the crowd.”
While Kyrgios was up to some of his usual trick shots and antics, what he never did was waver in his effort, something folks often accuse him of.
“Today,” Nadal said, “I think he played very serious, tried all the time his best.”
It certainly meant a lot to Kyrgios, who said: “I'm shattered to have lost tonight. These are the matches that I want to win the most.”
Kyrgios delivered 25 aces and some memorable moments, including walking out on court and warming up for the match in a No. 8 Los Angeles Lakers jersey to honor Kobe Bryant, the five-time NBA champion and 18-time all-star who died in a helicopter crash Sunday at age 41.
Kyrgios switched to a No. 24 Bryant shirt for his post-match news conference and described himself as emotional at the news.
A video tribute to Bryant was played on the Rod Laver Arena scoreboards before Monday's match.
Nadal vs. Kyrgios was fascinating to watch, in part because of the quality of the play and in part because of the subplot of their negative feelings toward each other.
“When I criticized him in the past,” Nadal said, “it's because I thought he did a couple of things that are not right and not the right image for our sport and for the kids.”