– New York In an intense last-16 match on Sunday, Australian maverick Nick Kyrgios knocked off the defending champion Daniil Medvedev and explained that his motivation comes from “not letting people down.”
Wimbledon runner-up Kyrgios won 7-6 (13/11), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to advance to his first New York quarterfinal, where he will take on Karen Khachanov, a Russian.
Kyrgios defeated his Russian opponent with 21 aces and a total of 53 victories, dropping him from the top spot in the world rankings.
Since breaking onto the forefront at Wimbledon in 2014, the 27-year-old crowd-pleaser has had a turbulent career.
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He shocked Rafael Nadal there when he was a teenager and the world’s 144th-ranked player.
But since then, Kyrgios has gained more notoriety for his contentious on-court conduct, run-ins with the law, and hefty fines.
The Wimbledon final was reached by Kyrgios in July, and he justified his career turnaround by saying, “I was just extremely sick of letting people down.”
Before the Serbian star sped away to a seventh championship at the All England Club, he defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
“I sense that I’m suddenly making others happy. I sense that less unfavorable things are being uttered about me. All I wanted to do was reverse the story.
“I just was feeling so depressed all the time, so feeling sorry for myself. I just wanted to change that.”
Now he is determined to keep his renaissance on track when he faces Khachanov on the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Tuesday’s quarter-finals.
The last time he met the Russian, he came through in five sets in the third round of the 2020 Australian Open.
Look like an idiot
Before this year, Kyrgios had never advanced past the third round at New York, calling his tennis “very ordinary.”
“Before this week, I hadn’t won a match on Ashe. I believe I was successful in showcasing. There are many famous people and influential people in attendance, he remarked.
“I wanted to get on that court and prove to them that I can focus, play hard, and triumph in these significant matches.
“I believe it to be significant for the tennis community as well. People began to seriously question my capacity to win matches like these at majors.
On Sunday, Kyrgios broke to take a 4-2 lead in the opening set of a fast-paced, hard-hitting match before Medvedev quickly fixed the problem.
A marathon tiebreak saw a 22-shot rally and Kyrgios save three set points.
The Australian clinched the opener on a fourth set point of his own after 63 minutes of tennis played at breakneck speed.
A furious Medvedev added spice to the encounter by complaining to umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore about the noise from the Kyrgios player box when he was serving from their end.
At the changeover, the Russian even threatened to refuse to play on if the disruptions continued.
Kyrgios left the court for a bathroom break but when he returned, his high-energy level dropped dramatically and Medvedev swept to a 5-1 second set lead on his way to levelling the contest.
Kyrgios then made the baffling decision to come around to Medvedev’s side of the net to finish a point in the second game of the third set.
His illegal manoeuvre cost him what would have been a break point.
“I’m going to look like an idiot,” said the Australian after the match.
However, he quickly broke the equally baffled Russian for a key 3-1 lead before pocketing the third set.
A fired-up Kyrgios broke for 2-1 in the fourth set, was handed a code violation for swearing and responded with back-to-back aces timed at 122mph and 131mph to stretch to 3-1.
He backed it up with another break for 4-1 as Medvedev wilted under the barrage before Kyrgios sent down his 21st ace to seal victory.
AFP