For better or worse, no personality has burned brighter at this year’s Wimbledon than Nick Kyrgios. That includes his tactics in Monday’s fourth round.
Facing unseeded American Brandon Nakashima, Kyrgios found himself playing more than before in a tournament in which he has already recorded perhaps the biggest win of his career against No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas. Kyrgios dropped the first set, won the next two, then fell behind with a break in the fourth.
Down 5-3 and serving with a chance to extend the set, Kyrgios did something rather strange. The usually fearsome server returned his serve to half his usual speed, missed shots wildly and threw a low serve, according to Sporting News. Nakashima jumped out to a 40-0 lead, then took the set on that third set point.
Some speculated that Kyrgios had spoiled the game, especially after he broke Nakashima twice in the fifth set to win 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2. As it turns out, they were right.
Speaking to reporters after the match, Kyrgios confirmed he had deliberately conceded the end of the fourth set to throw out Nakashima, who defeated 13th seed Denis Shapovalov to reach the fourth round.
Kyrgios:
“I knew from the start that I wasn’t playing as well as I would have liked. I wasn’t feeling the ball like I was against Tsitsipas or Krainovic, so I knew I just had to keep my head down and fight today. It was a good mental performance.
“At the end of the fourth, full rope-a-dope tactics. I just threw that service game away because I knew he was in a rhythm. He started getting on top of me and I just wanted to throw him a little less. It works.”
Kyrgios also noted that his shoulder problem had sidelined him early in the match and, this being Nick Kyrgios, confronted a reporter who aggressively confronted him about an alleged breach of Wimbledon’s dress code.
With Monday’s win, Kyrgios advanced to the second Wimbledon quarter-final of his career and first since his breakthrough performance in 2014. He will face Chile’s Christian Garin, world number 43, for the chance to reach a first Grand Slam semi-final slam of his career.
Nick Kyrgios took inspiration from Muhammad Ali to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals. (Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images)
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