Nick Kyrgios rebels against numbers and statistics. They are indicative, but they never say everything. If so, tennis and sport in general would not be funny. "The message tonight is that the ranking is not the most important thing," said the Australian after his victory, one more, against Daniil Medvedev, who has number one in the ATP individual ranking. The Russian has caught the measure. He defeated him in four of his five matchups. He was already the executioner of him a few weeks ago in the round of 32 of the Masters 1,000 in Montreal, and he has been again in the round of 16 of the US Open. The current champion of the tournament will not be able to defend his crown in the United States and will also lose his world title. There are three candidates to occupy it: Rafa Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud.
Kyrgios, who is ranked 25th in the ranking, needed less than three hours to beat his rival on Arthur Ashe, the center court of the last Grand Slam championship of the year. The Australian is not only rebelling against the rankings and the statistics, but also against himself. He is a new tennis player, one focused on the court, who does not lose his temper so often and who does not get carried away by external stimuli. His head, so crazy and incomprehensible until now, aligned with his undeniable talent, and the level jump is evident. "I am happy to finally show my talent to New York. I have not had big trips in this city nor have I played very good tennis, so I am happy to be able to show the work and dedication. It has taken me 27 years", he confessed after the encounter
At Wimbledon he surprised everyone by standing in the final against Novak Djokovic. At the US Open, it no longer seems a surprise that he has beaten a rival, a priori, of greater stature to sneak into the quarterfinals. He is the player who has accumulated the most wins since June, a total of 26. Against Medvedev, he put together an almost impeccable performance, with 53 winners. He managed to lengthen the first set and force the tie break, in which he saved three set points. This first round, lasting about an hour, was a service masterclass, in which each tennis player hit nine aces.
Kyrgios took the lead, but suffered a disconnection in the next set. Three double faults and 3-0 down, impossible to turn around. The second round was scored by Medvedev. Already in the third set, the change in mentality of the Australian was evident. In a situation in which he brought negative inertia, he managed to resist, regained effectiveness on serve (he finished the match with 71% accuracy on first serves and won 75% of those points) and landed some of his most powerful forehands to take distance on the scoreboard. He had a scare in the second game, in which he went down after a slip. Just one point later, he left one of the most surreal plays of the tournament, finishing a ball that went wide in his rival's half of the field. Kyrgyz stuff.
From then on, he maintained his dominance and closed the match, how could it be otherwise, with a direct serve (7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2). The celebration, after greeting Medvedev and the chair umpire, was indicative of what the Australian is and always will be: a showman. He serious, opening his arms and shrugging his shoulders, as if asking the audience if they had enjoyed the show, and then pointing to his chest. The player who divides the most opinions is already in the quarterfinals of the US Open, for the first time in his career. He will face Medvedev's compatriot, Karen Khachanov, who beat Pablo Carreño in five sets (4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3). Nadal, Alcaraz and Ruud are rubbing their hands thanks to Kyrgios, and they already have an extra motivation to go as far as possible in the tournament: to become number one in the ATP ranking.
