Rafael Nadal left a lasting impression on virtually every player he came up against. The Spaniard won 22 Grand Slam titles before calling it a day last year, leaving him behind only Novak Djokovic in the men’s all-time charts.
Nick Kyrgios certainly can’t match his haul of achievements. But the Aussie admits to being underwhelmed when he first went toe-to-toe with Nadal at Wimbledon in 2014. Kyrgios recently gave tennis fans an insight into his preparation for big matches and his thought process on the court during a live recording of the podcast Good Trouble. And reflecting on his first meeting with Nadal 11 years ago threw up an interesting revelation.
He admitted to being told by his coach before taking to the court: “You’re probably not going to win today.” But once they settled into the swing of the showdown, the underdog realised “this guy is not even that good”.
Kyrgios had only just turned 19 at the time, and he dispatched Nadal in four sets to advance to the Wimbledon quarter-finals and secure one of the most memorable wins of his career. Despite being underwhelmed by the Spaniard during that particular meeting, Nadal did eventually get the better of Kyrgios.
Of their nine competitive meetings, Nadal won six of them. Kyrgios won three outright before booking his spot in the 2022 Wimbledon final at Nadal’s expense as the veteran was not fit to play their semi.
Last year, Kyrgios revealed that part of the reason he played some of his best tennis against Nadal was because of genuine ill feeling towards him and his approach to the professional game.
“I couldn’t stand him,” he told the Nothing Major podcast. “I used to hate and despise him so much when I saw him walking around. He was one guy who always motivated me.
