Nick Kyrgios came through in five pulsating sets to defeat Karen Khachanov and set up a tasty fourth round match against Rafael Nadal at the 2020 Australian Open. Their rivalry is well-chronicled but what happened over the seven matches these two players faced off in a tennis match? Here’s more.
Watch the Nadal v Kyrgios live streaming from the 2020 Australian Open here
2014 Wimbledon
This was their first meeting and Rafael Nadal was coming fresh off a final at the Australian Open and a title win at Roland-Garros. While he wasn’t quite the favourite at Wimbledon, not too many would have expected him to go down to the greenhorn Aussie, the 19-year-old Nick Kyrgios. That is exactly what happened as Kyrgios blew Nadal off the court in four brilliant sets, winning 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to reach the quarterfinal.
What was stunning was Nadal hit 44 winners and made only 18 unforced errors, which should have been enough to get past most players, let alone a 144th-ranked virtual nobody at that stage. Kyrgios retaliated with 70 winners and 37 aces and Nadal was left awestruck. Also, a new rivalry was born.
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2016 Rome Masters
Nadal levelled things off in Italy two years later on his favourite surface but not before Kyrgios had taken a set off the Spaniard. They met in the third round match and Nadal fell away in the first set tie-breaker before making a comeback to win in three. It hadn’t been Nadal’s best year of tennis as he failed to win any Grand Slams and only clinched one Masters title and even that victory against Kyrgios was followed by a defeat at the hands of Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the quarterfinal.
The Spaniard acknowledged after this match it was a vital victory against a very tough opponent. He had said:
“Today was an important victory for me, of course, against a very difficult opponent.”
2017 Madrid Masters
This turned out to be a straightforward and a straight-set win for Nadal as he shook off the demons from the previous two meetings and crushed Kyrgios 6-3, 6-1 to storm into the quarterfinals at the Madrid Masters. Nadal broke early, Kyrgios broke back immediately but with the score reading 3-2 at that stage, the Aussie managed to win just two more games.
It could be to do with how aggressively Nadal played or the fact Kyrgios struggled with his fitness, walking off the court because of a hip-related issue but the Spaniard looked to have completely mastered his opponent in this.
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Nadal v Kyrgios 4th Round Live Streaming
2017 Cincinnati Masters
As with most great rivalries – and the Nadal v Kyrgios one comes close to being called one – it’s never easy for either player to break free of the hold the other exerts and that’s exactly the case with this one. After losing their first match-up at Wimbledon, Nadal raced off to a 2-1 lead and went into this match as an obvious favourite.
As it turned out, Kyrgios went on to topple Nadal’s lead with a 6-2, 7-5 win at this quarterfinal, but the seeds of bitterness looked to have been sowed here when he got booed by the crowd which was favouring Nadal. Later he signed off after the match with Barcelona written on the camera in the memory of the victims of a terror attack in Barcelona.
Interestingly, Kyrgios had had to play two matches on the same day to reach the semifinal.
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2017 China Open
Nadal was back and how. Playing Kyrgios again only weeks after the Cincinnati match, he went on to lift the China Open that year by beating the Aussie 6-2, 6-1 in the final. Kyrgios lasted little over an hour and a half in the match, and overall struggled to keep control of his emotions over issues with the lines-judges.
Kyrgios got involved in a verbal battle with the chair umpire, Mohamed Lahyani, which resulted in a couple of code violations and a lost point for the Aussie.
Interestingly, all was hunky-dory between the two players at the end of the match, with Nadal congratulating his opponent for his performance in the tournament to go with the win at Cincinnati. He said:
“Congrats to Nick for a great week. It was one month and a half ago, maybe less, that you beat me in Cincinnati so you’re doing great. Keep going and playing that way and of course you’re going to have a lot of success in the sport. You have a great future.”
Kyrgios was equally magnanimous in defeat and said:
“He’s in great form. He just destroyed me today, so too good.”
2019 Acapulco Open
Sparks flew on and off the court but the bottom-line was Kyrgios won the Acapulco Open title and en route doing that, he also toppled Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals. Nadal led by a set and the Aussie looked like he had pressed the self-destruction button yet again, after complaining of feeling sick but opting not to quit to avoid trial by the media.
Turns out he did well not to retire from the match as he won the next two sets in thrilling tie-breakers to clinch the match. In doing so, he also opted to rush his opponent after returning the serve and then served underarm in the final set. A miffed Nadal called Kyrgios out for his lack of respect, despite praising him for being a top player.
Nadal said:
“I don’t think he was doing it to bother me, I think he makes a show. He’s a player who has the talent to win a Grand Slam and be fighting for the top positions of the rankings.
“I don’t think he’s a bad guy, not at all. I think he’s a good guy, but what he lacks is a little respect for the public, for his rival, and also for himself. I think he should improve that. Today we have to say congratulations, he was good and he won.”
Not to be outdone by the complaint, Kyrgios brushed it aside by calling it a difference between the two players. He also said:
“He can focus on what he needs to do. He doesn’t know me. So I’m not going to listen at all. That’s the way I play. The way he plays, he’s very slow between points.”
Wimbledon 2019
Drama.
High octane.
Lack of respect
And spite.
Things had escalated to those levels between Nadal and Kyrgios and there were moments in this match which threatened to take it further. There was that underarm serve and Nadal smiled it away. Then there were arguments with the chair umpire as Kyrgios complained about Nadal’s slow speed.
But then came one such moment in the third set of the match, the flash-point when Kyrgios smashed a ball straight at Nadal’s chest, and refused to apologise for it. Incidentally, he had tried it before too but the ball flew wildly off the court.
Later Kyrgios retorted in the press conference Nadal had enough money in his bank to take the ball. The Aussie went on to admit he was aiming to hit Nadal on his chest.
Nadal questioned Kyrgios’ tactics and called him a dangerous player. And questioned his lack of respect yet again.
Amidst all this, the quality of tennis remained excellent and while Nadal came away a winner in four sets, he always knew he was in a contest.
Watch the 2019 Wimbledon match between Nadal and Kyrgios below.
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