It wasn’t until he put away a forehand volleyball on his first match point in the fifth set that Kyrgios showed real emotion – he looked at the crowd and roared with delight.
The victory was also hard-fought as the 27-year-old seemed to struggle with shoulder problems throughout the game and had to be treated by a physiotherapist when the score was 3-2 in the third set.
“I really need a glass of wine tonight,” he admitted in his on-pitch interview after the game.
Next up for Kyrgios is Chile’s Cristian Garin, who became the first man to come back in this year’s tournament with a straight-set win over Australia’s Alex de Minaur.
Kyrgios has now reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in seven years and remains unbeaten in all his five-set Wimbledon encounters.
“Today, on the other side, I pretty much just smiled and laughed to myself because I knew I was in an absolute fight,” he told reporters. “I couldn’t enjoy that before… I almost enjoyed the competitiveness (nowadays).”
American Nakashima, playing in the fourth round of a Grand Slam in his first match, clinched the opener with the first break point of the match but Kyrgios, despite shoulder-hanging a few times, smashed with a break early on back the second.
Serve proved to be Kyrgios’ best weapon, with an ace clocking 137mph as he saw the set and the match evened out.
There were few break opportunities for either player in the third set, but Kyrgios gained the upper hand in the tiebreak by hitting a cross-court forehand just outside of Nakashima’s reach to progress in the match.
However, the 20-year-old was far from done, breaking into fourth place for a 4-3 lead. What followed was an odd passage where Kyrgios seemed to take down the rest of the set with slow serves and lackluster ground shots.
“Total rope-a-dope tactic,” he later explained. “I just threw away that service game. I knew he was in a rhythm, he was starting to come at me and I just wanted to throw him off a bit.”
This meant the match turned into a decider, only Kyrgios showed some of his best tennis while Nakashima faded.
A double break of serve laid the groundwork for the win, and Kyrgios finished the match with 35 aces – taking his tally for the tournament to 103 – and 79 winners
He will now contest his second Wimbledon Quarterfinals and first since 2014; Back then, he defeated Rafael Nadal in the fourth round as a 19-year-old debutant.
His performance on Monday might not have had the same infectious, vibrant energy as his win over Nadal, but it was a brave win nonetheless.
“It wasn’t anywhere near my best performance in terms of level but I’m super happy I got through,” said Kyrgios. “I fought really hard today.”
Controversy has dogged Kyrgios throughout his tennis career and this year’s Wimbledon was no exception.
But Kyrgios has admitted he is a different player and person to the one who faced Nadal eight years ago, as evidenced by the calm exterior he sported on Monday.
On Monday, he was able to briefly reflect on what he described as his “roller coaster ride.”
“Look, there was a time when I had to be forced out of a pub at 4am to play Nadal in the second round,” Kyrgios said.
“My agent had to come and fetch me from the pub at 4am before I played my game on Center Court at Wimbledon.
“I’ve come a long way, that’s for sure. I think it’s daily habits and the people around me…Now to be sitting here in the Wimbledon quarter-finals, feeling good, feeling serene, feeling mature and having that around me, me, me very blessed and comfortable in my own skin.”
Against Garin, a player three places below him in the world rankings but less experience on the sport’s biggest stages, Kyrgios could make his first Grand Slam Final Four.
It would be a significant moment for a player used to living through the ups and downs of a professional tennis career.