NEW YORK — Nick Kyrgios sat in the Arthur Ashe Stadium locker room after ending Daniil Medvedev’s US Open title protection and keep at No. 1 in the rankings, and felt a mixture of pleasure and aid.
Pride on the big-serving, solid-returning efficiency that resulted in a 7-6 (11), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Medvedev on Sunday night time, the most recent in a collection of career-altering outcomes that carried Kyrgios to his first quarterfinal at Flushing Meadows on the heels of his run to his first Grand Slam remaining at Wimbledon.
Pride, he stated, at lifting himself out of “some really tough situations, mentally” and “some really scary places” off the courtroom, which he first revealed in February. Pride, he went on, at succeeding in distancing himself from “feeling so depressed all the time, so feeling sorry for myself.”
And aid, Kyrgios defined as he fiddled with the grey Boston Celtics cap he wore to his post-match news convention, at with the ability to come by when the lights are the brightest and stakes the very best, “because there’s just so much pressure every time I go out on court, so much expectation, so much unpredictability of what I can do.”
The Twenty third-seeded Kyrgios, a 27-year-old from Australia, by no means had managed to make it previous the third spherical of the US Open till now, going 0-4 at that stage in the previous. He additionally by no means had managed to parlay his unquestioned ability into terrific play with any semblance of the consistency he’s displaying recently.
“I’m just glad I’m finally able to show New York my talent,” Kyrgios stated after delivering 21 aces and using his typical go-for-broke type towards Medvedev. “I haven’t had too many great trips here.”
He reached his first Grand Slam semifinal, then first Grand Slam remaining, on the All England Club in July, earlier than dropping to Novak Djokovic in the title match. Then Kyrgios gained his first ATP title in three years at Washington in August. He adopted that up with a victory over Medvedev at a hard-court event in Montreal quickly after. He leads the ATP Tour in match wins since June.
Medvedev likened the way in which Kyrgios performed Sunday to the extent repeatedly reached by Rafael Nadal, who owns 22 Grand Slam titles and performs his fourth-round match Monday towards American Frances Tiafoe, and Djokovic, who has 20 majors however will not be on the US Open as a result of he isn’t vaccinated towards COVID-19 and so was not allowed to journey to the United States.
“Didn’t miss a lot. Didn’t really surprise me,” Medvedev stated. “If he plays like this ’til end of the tournament, he has all the chances to win it.”
Kyrgios continues to be Kyrgios throughout the course of a match, and was once more on Sunday night.
Unsure of the related rule, he misplaced some extent by operating across the web to hit a ball that was going to land method out, then celebrated what he thought was a terrific play by elevating a finger to make an “I’m No. 1” gesture.
During his on-court interview, Kyrgios sheepishly instructed the group: “I still can’t believe the bonehead play I made over here. I thought it was legal. That’s going to be all over ‘SportsCenter,’ so I’m going to [look] like an idiot.”
He yelled at his visitor field. He argued with the chair umpire and drew a warning for cursing. He smacked a ball in anger that ricocheted off a blue wall behind a baseline, coming near flying over and touchdown amid spectators.
Medvedev, in the meantime, had been enjoying nicely sufficient to win all 9 units he performed in Week 1 and look prepared to provide himself a shot at turning into the first man to win consecutive trophies in New York since Roger Federer grabbed the final of his 5 in a row from 2004 to ’08.
But the 26-year-old Russian stated he was bothered by a sore throat and customarily “felt a little bit sick,” which he attributed to too-powerful air con in the U.S. that he finds “just crazy.”
Now Medvedev — whose victory over Djokovic in the 2021 US Open remaining ended Djokovic’s bid for the first calendar-year Grand Slam in males’s tennis since 1969 — will relinquish the highest rating. Three gamers have an opportunity to switch him there: Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud.
“I feel like tonight was another message that rankings don’t matter,” stated Kyrgios, who will meet No. 27 seed Karen Khachanov for a spot in the semifinals.
Earlier Sunday, Ruud continued his bid to turn into the first No. 1-ranked participant out of Norway, posting a 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-2 victory over Corentin Moutet.
Ruud, a 23-year-old from Oslo, who additionally reached the US Open quarterfinals for the first time in his career, already was the first Norwegian man to look in the third and fourth rounds on the Open. The No. 5 seed should attain the championship remaining for not less than the chance to turn into the top-ranked participant in males’s tennis.
Ruud, at the moment the No. 7 participant in the world, will face Matteo Berrettini in the quarterfinals. Berrettini, the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up, superior by way of a 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Kyrgios has stated that had he gained Wimbledon, he won’t have proven up on the US Open in any respect. If he managed to win a Grand Slam title, he figured, the motivation to earn one would dissipate.
Right earlier than this event started, Kyrgios sat down with a small group of reporters and talked about lacking house — his brother just lately had a toddler; his mom was unwell — and the way a lot he cannot wait to return to Australia after months away. So his first-round match could be a “win-win,” he stated: “If I win, it’s more money and another great result. If I lose, I get to go home.”
On Sunday night time, Kyrgios was requested whether or not he nonetheless thought that method.
“There more matches, potentially, then we never have to play tennis again,” got here the reply.
And then Kyrgios smiled a large smile.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.