Nick Kyrgios, the Australian tennis professional, was supposed to face Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of Wimbledon 2022 as he defeated Cristian Garin in the quarterfinals. He outclassed Chile’s no.1 player in straight sets to enter the last four of the tournament. However, an unfortunate injury that Nadal incurred while competing in the quarterfinals ended his run abruptly.
Though the Spaniard’s walkover gave Kyrgios a free pass to the finals, he was quite sad, as he missed the chance of testing his skills against the legend. And also because a player of high caliber had to face such a disheartening outcome.
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Nick Kyrgios about Nadal’s unfortunate dismissal
Kyrgios, who was looking forward to the upcoming tussle, took on Instagram to share his feeling regarding Nadal’s withdrawal. He wrote, “different players, different personalities. Rafael Nadal I hope your recovery goes well. And we all hope to see you healthy soon.”
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“Till next time,” he added. The semi-finals face-off would have been their 10th encounter. However, even if Nadal is ahead of 6-3 in the head-to-head records, fans were more than excited about the match because both players both have battled to secure a lead on Wimbledon’s record.?
Nadal and Kyrgios are tied at the score of 1-1 when it comes to the Grand Salm of grass. While the Aussie opened the tab in the round of 16 of 2014’s event. The former World no.1 settled the score in 2019’s second-round clash.
What’s ahead of Kyrgios?
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As the 27-year-old advanced to the finals of the major without playing in the second last round, many painted it unfair. A huge chunk of tennis fans demanded that Taylor Fritz, who was defeated by Nadal, should get a chance to compete against Kyrgios in the semifinals as a ‘lucky loser’.
The other half argued that Fritz had a fair chance to further his reach, but he failed to do so. Therefore, the Aussie who hasn’t lost any match up till now should get the advantage.
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As of now, the former World no.13 will play against whoever comes out victorious on Friday’s centre court combat. He will either square off with the defending champion Novak Djokovic or the home favorite Cameron Norrie in his first ever Grand Slam singles finals.