“He Gives Good Things to this Sport”: Rafael Nadal after Defeating Nick Kyrgios

Nick Kyrgios didn’t make it easy for World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the fourth round of the 2020 Australian Open.

Nadal dropped the first set of the tournament against the local guy but managed to win the game 6-3 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-4).

For a major part, the match reminded people of the last time the duo met at the Wimbledon last year. But this time,  Kyrgios showed better temperament and concentrated on his tennis.

Nadal was impressed by Kyrgios played and felt that is how he should be.

“When he is playing like today, with this positive attitude, he gives good things to this sport. I like the Kyrgios who played this tournament,” Nadal said after the match.

Nadal admitted that Kyrgios isn’t the easiest of opponents and he had to work hard to win the match.

The match went into tie breaker twice- in the third and the fourth set. Nadal fought through to emerge on the winning side of both, eventually winning the match.

“It has been a very tough match,” Nadal said. “In the beginning it seemed like I was under control but against Nick you are never under control because if you make a mistake with one serve then it’s so difficult to break him again.

“Happened again in the fourth, he played a good game but I played a scary game at 5-4. That’s part of the sport. Accept that, try to recover mentally and try to find the level of my tennis again for the tiebreak.”

Rafael Nadal to face Dominic Thiem in Quarterfinals

As Nadal beat Kyrgios, fifth seed Dominic Thiem went past Gael Monfils to book a berth in the quarterfinals. Nadal and Thiem are scheduled to meet on Wednesday.

Among other Quarterfinal fixtures, world no. 2 Novak Djokovic will face Milos Raonic and Swiss maestro Roger Federer is set up against America’s Tennys Sandgren on Tuesday.