A Star Is Born! Nick Kyrgios Stuns Rafael Nadal Today At Wimbledon [Stats]
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After defeating world No. 1 Rafael Nadal 76(5) 57 76(5) 63 in the round of 16, wild card Nick Kyrgios has become the first man to reach the quarterfinals on their Wimbledon debut since Florian Mayer in 2004. At 19 years 70 days, he is the youngest player to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam since compatriot Bernard Tomic (18 years 255 days) at 2011 Wimbledon.
Kyrgios is the first teenager to defeat a world No. 1 at a Grand Slam since Nadal achieved the feat when he defeated Roger Federer at 2005 Roland Garros aged 19 years 2 days.
Kyrgios is the lowest-ranked player to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since No. 158 Tomic in 2011.
Kyrgios is the first player ranked outside the Top 100 to defeat a world No. 1 at a Grand Slam since No. 193 Andrei Olhovskiy defeated Jim Courier in the 3rd round at 1992 Wimbledon.
Kyrgios is the lowest-ranked player to defeat Nadal since No. 690 Joachim Johansson at 2006 Stockholm. Kyrgios is the lowest-ranked player Nadal has lost to at a Grand Slam.
Kyrgios is just the 3rd Australian player to defeat Nadal after Chris Guccione and Lleyton Hewitt. Nadal’s last loss to an Australian player (before today) came when he retired against Guccione at 2007 Sydney. Kyrgios joins Lleyton Hewitt as the only Australian player to have defeated Nadal at a major after Hewitt defeated Nadal at the 2004 and 2005 Australian Opens. Kyrgios has ended Nadal’s 14-match winning streak against Australian opposition.
(ITF)
“I think I was in a bit of a zone out there,” Kyrgios told BBC television. “It hasn’t sunk in what just played out out there. I played extraordinary tennis. I was struggling a bit on return, but I worked my way into it. I served at a really good level and I’m really happy.
“You’ve got to believe you can win the match from the start and I did. I’m playing unbelievable tennis on the grass. He hit extraordinary shots, but he’s always going to bring that.”
Nadal, who had not reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in three years, commended the young Australian.
“The thing is this surface, when you have an opponent that decides to serve and to hit every ball very strong, you are in trouble,” said Nadal. “I think that I didn’t play really bad, but that’s the game in this surface.
“I think in the second and the third set I was better than him, but I was not able to convert those opportunities. And for the rest, I think he played better than me. So, in general, talking about what you need to win in this surface, he did the things better than me.”
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