“Everybody Knows Who is Kyrgios:” Rafael Nadal ahead of Australian Open 2020

With an approaching Grand Slam comes different permutations of what a player would be facing as the tournament progresses. As the schedule for the 2020 Australian Open was announced, eyes turned to the prospect of Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal facing local guy Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round.

“Everybody knows who is Kyrgios. Everybody knows how big is his talent, how good he is when he wants to play at his best, when he’s able to play at his best,” Nadal said in a press conference ahead of the year’s first Grand Slam.

“His chances are always there.  He is one of these players that have chances in every tournament that he plays.”

Nadal entered 2020 as the World No. 1, making him the player to claim the top spot in three different decades.

Nadal, 33, won 19 Grand Slams over the three decades that he played. He had to battle through tough injuries at times during his illustrious career.

“It’s true that I went through some tough situations during all my career,” Nadal said. “But I was able to always, with probably the positive attitude and with the right people around, to find a way to keep going.

“(It’s) something that is difficult to imagine for me because of my style of game, as a lot of people said, my career should be little bit shorter.

“But here we are. (I’m) happy for that. Even for me is a big surprise to be where I am at my age.”

Rafael Nadal won the Australian Open previously in 2009. He will start the 2020 edition of the tournament with a first round clash against unseeded Bolivian Hugo Dellien on Tuesday.

He is expected to go through the initial rounds quite comfortably and it could a spicy fourth round he if does face Nick Kyrgios.

Nick Kyrgios expecting good home support

Coming into the tournament, Kyrgios was confident of getting support from the crowd being the local guy.

“Every time I play here, I’m well-supported. All my practices are pretty full. I think people are excited to see me,’’ Kyrgios was quoted as saying by The New Daily.