Wimbledon: Rafael Nadal wins Showtime duel against Nick Kyrgios!
Rafael Nadal won the highly anticipated duel against Nick Kyrgios. The Spaniard won on Thursday evening 6: 3, 3: 6, 7: 6 (5), 7: 6 (3) against the mostly concentrated Australian - and is thus in the third round of Wimbledon.
by Florian Goosmann from Wimbledon
last edit: Jul 04, 2019, 09:25 pm
As for the relationship with Nadal, Nick Kyrgios had been asked about his opening win on Tuesday, and Kyrgios replied in his own way: "I'm not sure Rafa and I would go to Dog & Fox for a beer hiss" he said. "I don't know him at all," Kyrgios said, and the question was extremely strange.
Kyrgios stayed on Wednesday evening without Nadal and with friends in Dog & Fox, a pub in Wimbledon Village, but apparently didn't leave it too late - he was scheduled for the match day in the afternoon anyway. His preparation also consisted of a few long balls with Nadal's compatriot Carla Suarez Navarro.
Nadal sets the pace
Nadal cared little about all of this. He looked focused right from the start, Kyrgios got going just as slowly as in his opening match against Jordan Thompson. In any case, Nadal had little in mind for gimmicks, so he insisted on setting the pace, which was reflected in a quick 3-0.
A murmur (and a lot of applause) Kyrgios only reaped at 2: 5 and 40: 0 from his point of view, when he started a serve from below and made an ace. Even louder, the almost 15,000 spectators cheered the Spaniard's set win, which the Spaniard booked with a determined net attack.
Kyrgios receives a warning - and manages the sentence equalization
Kyrgios, in front of Genie Bouchard in his box, was now in the game and in a show mood - and played without fooling around . A smooth game win was followed by a break, with a forehand shot at the end of a good 20 strokes rally. Nadal then created two chances for a direct rebreak, and the second ball in particular had to annoy him: Kyrgios had set a volley stop too high and gave Nadal all the time in the world - but the Australian correctly speculated and made the 3: 0 shortly afterwards.
In the game for 4: 1, Kyrgios started again from below, this time with the slightly closer score of 40:30. Nadal's answer got stuck on the net. The audience acknowledged the action this time with boos (Kyrgios brought back the laugh with a short sneezing orgy at the beginning of the next game).
Nadal subsequently managed the rebreak, which led Kyrgios to a discussion with referee Damien Dumusois, who warned the 24-year-old. This countered with wanting to fire the attacking Nadal a forehand on the body, from far behind the baseline, however. Kyrgio's shot struck the rear gang.
Nadals nevertheless broke in the further game. Kyrgios breached again and served to equalize the set.
# BETATHOMEWIWIN #
Nadal in the tiebreaks for sure
At 1-1 in round three, a repeat of Hawk-Eye led Kyrgios to another discussion with Dumusois, but he again emerged as the second winner from the discussion. A good action by the Australian: shortly afterwards he encouraged Nadal to take up a challenge, which he successfully took.
The mood in the booth came again at 4: 4. Kyrgios fired a forehand on the advanced Nadal (again from behind the baseline), almost hit him and made the point. Nadal countered with the deadly look and a double mistake, but he got no excuse. He still played the game and let his emotions run wild, including the Kuntz saw.
The 33-year-old played the tiebreak shortly afterwards safely home and celebrated this with an impressive jump in the air.
In the fourth movement, Nadal, in particular, admitted little on his own serve. Kyrgios opened the door briefly, but was always there before Nadal could set foot in the gap. The tiebreak had to be done again, and here Kyrgios made the decisive mistake in the first point when he dropped a simple high forehand volley into the net. Nadal pulled away to 3: 0, could not take this lead and cheered all his tension after the handshake with Kyrgios.
In the third round he will meet Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Saturday.