NEW YORK –
Nick Kyrgios sat in the dressing room at the Arthur Ashe Stadum after completing Daniil Medvedev’s US Open title defense and staying top of the rankings, feeling a mixture of pride and relief.
Proud of the great serve that saw off Medvedev 7-6 (11), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday night, the latest in a series of career-changing results taking Kyrgios to his first quarter-final in Flushing Meadows brought after heels to his first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon.
Proudly, he said, getting off the pitch from “some really tough mental situations” and “some really scary places,” which he first revealed in February. Proudly, he continued, he’s managed to distance himself from “feeling so depressed all the time, feeling so much self-pity.”
And relief, Kyrgios explained while playing in the Boston Celtics gray cap he wore to his post-game press conference, that he was able to pull through when the lights were brightest and the stakes were highest, “because there’s just so much.” Pressure gives so much expectation, so much unpredictability of what I can do every time I step onto the pitch.
23rd-seeded Kyrgios, a 27-year-old from Australia, had previously never managed to advance through the third round of the US Open, having gone 4-0 at that point in the past. He’s also never managed to bring his undoubted skill to the great game with any semblance of the consistency he’s been showing of late.
“I’m just happy to finally be able to show my talent to New York,” said Kyrgios after delivering 21 aces and using his trademark go-for-broke style against Medvedev. “I haven’t had many great trips here.”
He reached his first Grand Slam semi-final and then his first Grand Slam final at the All England Club in July before losing to Novak Djokovic in the title match. Then in August in Washington, Kyrgios won his first ATP title in three years. A win over Medvedev at a hard court tournament in Montreal followed shortly thereafter. He has been leading the ATP Tour in match wins since June.
Medvedev compared the way Kyrgios played on Sunday to the level enjoyed by Rafael Nadal, who owns 22 Grand Slam titles and has Monday’s fourth-round match against American Frances Tiafoe, and Djokovic, who is 21 Has regularly reached majors but is not at the US Open He is not vaccinated against COVID-19 and has therefore not been allowed to travel to the United States.
“I didn’t miss much. Didn’t really surprise me,” said Medvedev. “If he plays like that until the end of the tournament, he has every chance of winning it.”
Wouldn’t that be something?
Kyrgios is still Kyrgios throughout a game and was again that night.
Unsure of the relevant rule, he lost a point running around the net to hit a ball that would land wide out and then celebrated what he thought was a great game by raising a finger, to make an “I’m number 1” gesture.
During his on-pitch interview, Kyrgios sheepishly told the crowd: “I still can’t believe what a stupid game I made over here. I thought it was legal. It’s going to be all over the SportsCenter, so I’m going to do it like an idiot.”
He yelled at his guest box. He argued with the chair umpire and drew a warning for swearing. He furiously hit a ball that bounced off a blue wall behind a baseline, almost flying over it and landing amid spectators.
Medvedev, meanwhile, had played well enough to win all nine sets he played in Week 1 and appeared poised to become the first man to win back-to-back trophies in New York since Roger Federer completed the last of his five in had won a series from 2004-08.
But the 26-year-old Russian said he had a sore throat and generally felt “a little sick”, which he attributed to excessive air conditioning in the US, which he thinks is “just crazy”.
Now Medvedev – whose win over Djokovic in the 2021 US Open final ended his bid for the first calendar year Grand Slam in men’s tennis since 1969 – will relinquish the top spot. Three players have the chance to replace him there: Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud.
“I feel like tonight there was another message that placings don’t matter,” said Kyrgios, who will meet number 27 Karen Khachanov for a semi-final spot.
Kyrgios has said if he had won Wimbledon he might not have turned up at the US Open at all. If he managed to win a Grand Slam title, he thought, the motivation to earn one would wane.
Just before this tournament started, Kyrgios sat down with a small group of reporters and spoke about missing home – his brother recently had a child; his mother was ill – and how he can’t wait to return to Australia after months away. So his first-round match would be a “win-win,” he said: “If I win, it’s more money and another great result. If I lose, I get to go home.”
On Sunday night, Kyrgios was asked if he still thinks that way.
“Three more matches, then we’ll never have to play tennis again,” came the reply.
And then Kyrgios smiled widely.