Rafa, meet Nick. Nick, meet Rafa.
Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios will, in fact, meet each other–again–on Thursday. But that meeting will be reserved for the tennis court (Centre Court at Wimbledon, to be exact). It won’t extend to lunch, dinner, or cocktail.
“I’m not sure that me and Rafa could go down to the Dog & Fox and have a beer together,” Kyrgios said following his 7-6(4), 3-6, 7-6(10), 0-6, 6-1 first-round victory over fellow Australian Jordan Thompson on Tuesday, referencing the well-known pub in Wimbledon Village.
They could, one would suppose. It just wouldn’t be too enjoyable. How are you supposed to enjoy having a beer with someone you don’t like?
They don’t like each other, and they’ve admitted–without actually saying the exact words–that they don’t like each other. Both players have resorted to using “know” as the code word for “like.”
“I don’t know Nick,” Nadal said during his pre-tournament press conference.
“I don’t know him at all,” Kyrgios said after beating Thompson.
As usual, the 24-year-old was more willing to expand on their relationship–or lack thereof–than Nadal had been following a 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 rout of Yuichi Sugita.
“I know him as a tennis player,” Kyrgios continued when asked if he would be interested in getting to know Nadal better. “I just don’t…no. I don’t know him very well. I don’t know what you want me to say to the question. It’s a very strange question.
“I get along with (some) people; some people I don’t get along with.”
When asked to confirm that he was saying he doesn’t get along with Nadal, the world No. 43 answered, “I mean, we have a mutual respect. But that’s about it, I think.”
“He’s my polar opposite,” Kyrgios also said in a now-infamous podcast this spring in Rome. “Like literally my polar opposite…. And he’s super salty.”
If they have nothing in common off the court, they perhaps have even less in common on it. Nadal, of course, is one of the most well-respected fighters in tennis history. Kyrgios, by his own admission, is not.
“Everyone’s so professional compared to me,” he said in the same podcast. “I’m the person who literally does the least amount of work on tour. I do the least amount of work out of the top 100.”
That was a revelation Kyrgios had, he explained, when he was playing doubles with Bernard Tomic a week earlier in Madrid and Tomic put forth more effort both pre-match and mid-match than he was.
Nadal knows as well as anyone that Kyrgios will tank when he wants to tank and will play–I mean really play–when he wants to play.
“(He’s a) very dangerous player when he wants to play tennis,” the two-time Wimbledon champion said on Tuesday. “Normally against the best players, he wants to play tennis.”
It’s true. Kyrgios has defeated Nadal three times (3-3 overall, including at the All-England Club in 2014), Federer once (1-5 overall with several thrilling losses), and Djokovic twice (2-0 overall). Put him on a main court at a huge tournament against one of the Big 3 and Kyrgios will go into “This is Spartaaaaaaa!” mode. Throw him on some outer court of some small tournament against some random opponent and he is apt to make Tomic look like a try-hard by comparison.
Centre Court…. Wimbledon…. Versus Rafael Nadal…. We know which Kyrgios is going to show up on Thursday.
And we know that when it’s over, they still won’t know each other.
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Australian Rodeo Clown in 4
If you could somehow take Nadal’s will to compete and put it into Kyrgios’ body, the Aussie might win this match in a rout. Kyrgrios is really that good when he wants to be. The combination of pace and accuracy on his serve -when he tries- is maybe unmatched in the men’s game. His ROS is very good and his ground-strokes are excellent -again when he cares enough to try. The only (non-mental) parts of his game that aren’t good are his volleying, which is bad, and his overhead, which is terrible.
In the actual world, even Nick’s best effort will never match Nadal’s routine effort. As he did against Thompson, Kyrgios will almost certainly do a mental walkabout at some point, quite possibly for an entire set. So Kyrgios is correct in recognizing that he is the clear underdog in this match. However, keeping that in mind may be the best thing in terms of keeping him motivated to win it.
After watching his 1st round match, it’s pretty clear that Kyrgios’ biggest problem in a match may simply be getting bored during points. He has an incredible and very under-rated ability to rally from the baseline, and he could probably match Nadal in that regard if he really cared to. But he gets bored, and against Thompson, what he usually did when he got bored was hit a drop shot; almost invariably, the results were bad. If I were Nick’s coach I would tell him this: if you get bored during a rally, just look to unload on a forehand into the open court. You may hit a winner, you may make an error; but the ball isn’t coming back. Your boredom with that point will be relieved and you can start the next point.
I think Kyrgios will win this match only if he does all of these things:
1) Try almost all of the time
2) Serve well
3) Don’t hit any tweeners on big points (see 1)
4) Minimize drop shots to almost zero
Otherwise Kyrgios will lose (particularly if Nadal serves as well as he did in the last set of his match against Sugita). And I have no idea whether Kyrgios will do all of 1-4, or even if he’s capable of it.
kygrios (+4.5), and kygrios for the upset at (+320), hes due!!!
Krygios could beat all of the top 10 ten times each and he will STILL be a worse tennis player than any of them. Good tennis players win tournaments. Big tournaments. That’s how it works. He’s a curiosity, nothing more, and never will be anything more. Just not cut out for it.
Rafa in four. I think Kyrgios may not be up for it physically. If he needs five sets to beat Thompson, he’ll have to up his level several notches to beat Rafa.
Rafa is playing well and he’s feeling confident about his own game. I think he’ll be determined too not to have a repeat of Wimbledon 2014. As long as Rafa remains calm and not let Kyrgios’ antics get to him, he should be able to beat Kyrgios.
Great article….and Rafa is NOT happy….and that means Rafa in straight!
What I really dislike about these match-ups is the juvenile pot-stirring that ensues, particularly by immature ‘journalists’ like Ben and now this piece about whether they ‘like’ each other. Both players are correct in saying they don’t really ‘ know’ each other well personally. They work in the same profession and manage to be civil to each other. Why the insistence that this becomes personal, and why enable Nick’s self destructive tendency to speak without a filter? As for Rafael, think he is enough of a pro that he sees it as another match he must win to accomplish his goals… nothing more or less. Rafa says he’s ‘too old’ for all of this mess. I wonder when those covering the sport will reach a similar level of maturity. Rafael in 3 or 4. VamosRafa!
Cutlet, well said, and I couldn’t agree with you more!!! Particularly about the part about the media!!! Utterly useless most of the time! News<Sensationalism. Sigh!
Vamos Rafa!!!!
Great piece Ricky, really great insights and writing.
Stop giving so munch importance to this clown. I cannot believe this. Ok..dude has some talent, but there are more talented players out there that don’t get the hype they deserve.
Kyrgios doesn’t respect anybody on and off court. If he cannot draw attention to himself by winning titles..he gets it by beeing a clown and everybody gets down on their knees in front of him
It is supposed to be tennis not back yard tennis
Nadal will win this match
Who do you think is more talented than Kyrgios?
No-one.He’s an instinctive player ,dare I say naturally talented.He can turn it on at the flick of a switch,that can’t be taught.
Other players need days of training and practise .
The basic training stuff has to be there, I mean he has to learn to serve, to hit his FH and BH etc. Its not like he picks up a racket and then could produce that serve out of no where!
He’s talented no doubt, but I would say its his character(he’s lazy), that makes him hits some shots out of the blue, without thinking, ie based on instinct, rather than using his brain to go about his match with some game plan. He’s making use of his physical gifts and athletism to do the job, more than using his brain to think of solutions out there.
I feel as he grows older when his physical gifts would start to diminish, his kind of game would be seriously affected. He’s still young at 24, so perhaps he still has a few years to squander away those physical gifts.
Apart from his serve, which is a thing of beauty, Kyrgios’ game isn’t particularly graceful or sound. His BH in particular looks ugly to me; he kind of slaps at it and I’m always surprised at how consistent he can be with it. And his FH is also a bit unorthodox, especially when he opens it up.
The thing that stands out, to me, is just his sense of timing. He can produce very whip-like strokes, especially on the FH, that generate tremendous power, but you would never teach someone to hit like that and it’s probably not going to do his body any favors in the long run.
The best sign of his talent is that he basically doesn’t train but can still compete at a pretty equal level with the big 3.
Kyrgios backhand is so good. Especially on grass.
Setting aside the hype, there is a real chance that this match will turn ugly, for some of the same reasons it did in Acapulco. Against Thompson, Kyrgios was playing so fast during his service games that the ball kids didn’t have time to get set. Nick thinks the rules state that you must play to the pace of the server, but Nadal will undoubtedly try to slow him down. Look for a lot of Nadal putting his hand up while Kyrgios is getting ready to serve and Kyrgios getting pissed off or just hitting the serve anyways. If the match is tight, things could get ugly.
Kyrgios’ press conference was absolutely hilarious.
I think the last time there was any hype about Kyrgios in a slam it was the 2018 US Open in the 3rd round v Fed. And Kyrgios basically got hosed before Roger went on to get beaten by Millman.
I wouldn’t be that surprised if he gets knocked out here in three sets, but how can you ever tell with Kyrgios? I imagine there will be some fireworks from him, win or lose, so this is a good one to watch even if the contest itself fizzles out. Pity the poor chair umpire who has to run the show. Each time an umpire gets selected for a Kyrgios match they must breathe in and think ‘So help me God’ and wonder what they did wrong to deserve it.
In terms of actual tennis, Nick just has to hit his lines ala 2014 and focus on the game itself. Rafa looked pretty good last round aside from some early fumbles, which seems to be the norm for him these days. Given it took Kyrgios five sets just to get past Thompson I’m gonna go with Rafa in 3.
It may be strange but, between Nick and Rafa, the match, except on the clay, is on Kyrgios’ racket. It depends entirely on which Kyrgios will shows up for the match, … http://www.138mph.com/wimbledon-the-future-hope-tsitsipas-zverev-shapovalov-and-thiem-collapse-but-the-geezers-nadal-djokovic-federer-dominate-first-round/
Don’t think on non clay surfaces, it’s solely on Kyrgios’ racket as if Rafa has no say on it. The Beijing 2017 final was a good example, Rafa came out playing very well, not giving Kyrgios much to chances to attack him. Kyrgios soon realised that and so decided to give up for much of the rest of the match.
The recent Acapulco match was another example; the match went the distance and Rafa had MPs but its he who faltered giving Kyrgios chances to fight back to win the TB and the match, so it’s not solely on Kyrgios’ racket on non clay surfaces.
The key is not allowing Kyrgios to play his game, like when you come out playing better tennis than him and frustrates him.
Well ,today for example, would you say Wawrinka or Opelka had the match on their racquet? Stan was in-form, and Opelka hasn’t played much on grass.
Kyrgios giving up in matches is pretty much expected, so how can you say he does that because his opponent was better? Sometimes, maybe , but when he’s really on, the match IS on his racquet , we just don’t see it often enough .
Big Al, as I said, you have to start the match well, and not giving him much chances to attack with success, that’s what Rafa did at Beijing in 2017. The match wasn’t on Kyrgios’ racket in that match, because Rafa had the upper hand right from the beginning. Kyrgios is one person who would give up once he knows it’s too difficult for him to win.
In the Acapulco match, I don’t think Rafa started all that well, so both of them were more or less on even ground, and, Kyrgios still had to play all sorts of tricks and mind game to irritate Rafa, and then barely edged out the win after facing MP himself. Can you say that Kyrgios didn’t play well in that match? He even went on to win the tournament!
Even if Kyrgios’s game is on, he’s still not unbeatable; and that’s why both Fed and Rafa have some wins over him.
Stan lost in QF at Queens, I’m not sure he’s exactly in form. Opelka with his big serve, will always have his advantage. The courts are not that quick here, hence Stan was able to handle some of Opelka’s serves and so the match went the distance, and Stan was able to break Opelka’s serves once in each of the two sets that he won. If it’s quick grass surface like in the 1990s, I think Opelka would win quite easily with his big serves!
So the conclusion is: it’s dependent on the surface. In the Stan vs Opelka case for example, on slower grass or slower surface in general, the match is not necessarily on Opelka’s racket, as his opponent may just ‘snatch’ the racket out of his hand. On quicker courts, the advantage will be his, and so the match may really be on his racket.
Kyrgios vs the big three, on slower surfaces, the big three may just ‘snatch’ the racket out of Kyrgios’ hands; on quicker surfaces, Kyrgios may have the advantage but, he has to play extremely well and they not so well; if not it’s still a 50-50 scenario imo.
I enjoyed watching Kyrgios losing the points after playing underarm serves and tweeners a few times against Thompson. He says he’s always been indisciplined on court since he was 12 because he likes enjoying himself and the more the media buy into it the more he turns it up, He even said people go to see him lose his cool. What is not acceptable is dragging his opponent into it.
Both Kyrgios and Tomic should get help or go and do something they enjoy. No one, as far as I know, is making them play professional tennis.
Don’t know about this Slams but i have seen Atp 250 tournaments with a tougher draw than the one that Fed or Nole have.
No doubt they both lucked out compared to Nadal, but someone will turn up. It could be FAA in Djokovic’s case; would love to see that match. And who knows? If Kyrgios undergoes a personality transplant and goes on a tear, Fed could meet him in the SF.
I doubt Kyrgios would make it to the SF to meet Fed, assuming Fed could make it to the SF (not necessarily as there’s still Berrettini and Isner standing in his way). Even if Kyrgios bests Rafa, he won’t last the next few matches to meet Fed.
Seriously, both Fed and Djoko have it easy from R1 to R3; it’s until R4 that maybe things could get a bit tougher.