WIMBLEDON: Rafael Nadal is through to the third round of the Wimbledon Championships after battling through a gripping encounter against Nick Kyrios to win 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3).
The thrilling encounter was filled with twists and turns. The 12-time French Open champion saw his early lead come and go as a fiery Kyrgios refused to back down. On top of that, the Australian argued with the umpire throughout the first two sets of action. The pulsating encounter saw the former world no.1 withstand 29 aces and 58 winners as he dropped serve twice.
“He is a tough opponent when he wants to compete he’s one of the toughest you can face. Against the top guys and normally against me he wants to try hard, it was very tough.” Nadal told BBC2.
“The second set was tough. I think I lost a little bit of concentration. It should not happen. You lose a set against this player, it’s so difficult to win tie-breaks against Nick but I was serving well and I think I played with the right determination at that moment.” He added.
When the men’s draw took place last week, this was the clash that many wanted to see. It was at Wimbledon where the rivalry between the two started five years ago on Center Court. On that occasion 19-year-old Kyrgios stunned the then world No.1 in the fourth round. Since then the relationship between the two hasn’t always been warm. The Australian recently described his rival as being ‘super salty’ in defeat.
It wasn’t long into the match where Kyrgios started to voice his frustrations. This time it was about the timing of his serving. Complaining to the umpire “I’m ready to serve. No one is standing up. Why am I waiting?’ Then going on to suggest that Nadal was playing at his own tempo. Players are required to play to the speed of the server and only take 25 seconds between points.
Despite Kyrgios’ antics, it was Nadal who drew first blood in the opener. Breaking the Australian in his first service game on route to a 3-0 lead. Prompting a shout of ‘Vamos’ from the fired-up grand slam champion. Kyrgios tried to respond, throwing in tweener shots and even an underarm ace. However, it wasn’t enough to deny Nadal the lead.
“He takes 40 seconds between every serve. Don’t tell me to play within reason; he doesn’t play within reason.” Kyrgios was heard saying about Nadal after dropping the opener.
In typical roller-coaster fashion, Kyrgios hit back with interest. Using the crowd support to his advantage as he broke twice on route to leveling the match at one set all. Much to the bemusement of Nadal.
Slammed with a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct, Kyrgios continued to express his rage with the match official whilst taking on the king of clay. Engaged in a battle royale with some sublime tennis being produced by both players, Nadal held his nerve to restore the lead. Coming through a tense third set, the third seed hit a forehand winner to get an early break in the tiebreak for a 2-1 lead. Four points later he broke once again, but this time it was at the expense of an error from across the court. Those two points proved to be enough to elevate the Spaniard back into the lead as he closed the tiebreaker with another winner. Prompting a massive jump and huge roar from Nadal.
Continuing to weather the storm, another nail-biting set came with neither refusing to buckle behind their serve. Eventually, it would be Kyrgios who would falter at the worst possible time. Going into the second tiebreaker, the Australian leaked a series of errors to hand Nadal three straight points. Enough of the margin to eventually close out the match after more than three hours of play. Doing so with the help of a Kyrgios backhand plowing into the net on match point.
“I thought I started a little slow, but I thought he played really well today. I knew his game plan, I got onto it pretty quickly.” Said Kyrgios.
“He directed most of his serves to my forehand. He hasn’t really done that in the past. It’s definitely my weaker return. He was definitely trying to stay away from my backhand return a lot.’
“I thought just on big points, I mean, he played well. Hit his forehand extremely well. When Rafa plays well, he hits his forehand line extremely well. I thought today he was on fire with that shot.”
Nadal will play Jo-Wilfried Tsong in the third round on Saturday.
