Nick Kyrgios brought only the pair of shoes he was wearing when he arrived on the court for his first-round match at the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday. Unfortunately for his tennis-playing aspirations, they were basketball shoes.
Kyrgios left his tennis shoes in the locker room, an error he realized while searching through his bag prior to warming up. The 23-year-old Aussie was prepared to warm up in his basketball kicks before the chair umpire agreed to delay the warmup as someone in Kyrgios’ camp went to retrieve the tennis shoes.
Reminder for @NickKyrgios: Remember your shoes 😂😭#CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/cwrSyG0pTm
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) August 14, 2018
Kyrgios eventually survived a roller-coaster contest against Denis Kudla 6-7(2), 7-5, 7-6(9), saving one match point with a 133 MPH second-serve ace at 7-8 in the third-set tiebreaker.
“[In my mind] I don’t feel as if I can miss that serve again, so I just go for it,” Kyrgios commented. “It came off today, but obviously some days it’s not going to work. On days like today, obviously it got me the win.”
It was just his second win of the hard-court summer, as he has struggled with form, motivation, and injuries since losing in the Wimbledon fourth round.
Cincinnati’s No. 15 seed will meet Borna Coric on Wednesday.
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sounds about right