Tennis, Indian Wells: Kyrgios-Nadal, friends ever. What a challenge to the quarters

Never friends. But never really. And on the other hand, how could they be? They represent, in life and in tennis, the two opposite poles of the very concept of being an athlete, and perhaps also of being a man. To each one of him, with no regrets. Nick Kyrgios and Rafael Nadal have never told them, but basically for the Australian this is nothing new: Federer and “his brother” Kokkinakis aside, made a bit of a controversy with everyone, while the Majorcan did not he can certainly define a “brawler”, being always very measured in his declarations, but in this case he did not escape. “You can’t be the greatest of all time if you lose to someone like me”, for example, once said the Aussie talking about Novak Djokovic, another friend not really him (even if they have come closer). The fact is that Rafa and Nick will meet tonight in the quarter-finals of Indian Wells, for the ninth time in their career. And the heads up talk about a much more balanced challenge than we think: 5 successes for Nadal, 3 for Kyrgios. The last time he happened to be at the 2020 Australian Open, a time when Nick was anything but a serious tennis player, yet he dragged the Spaniard to the fourth set. When he sees the great Nick he gets excited, little to do: the problem, if anything, is all the other games. In the Californian desert, Kyrgios (who had been missing from the quarterfinals of a “1000” for almost five years), comes as a bit of a surprise, it is true, but after having played an excellent tournament, with a solidity coupled with that natural talent that it has very few, very few equals on the circuit.

Undefeated

–

Nadal reaches this quarter-final as unbeaten in 2022, 18 wins, even if he doesn’t seem at the top of his form. But he still wins, even against currently very mangy opponents like Opelka. The almost 27-year-old Kyrgios will certainly be fresher, as he took advantage of Jannik Sinner’s forfeit in the round of 16. The first time Nadal and Kyrgios met on the most important stage of all, at Wimbledon, in 2014. Nick was still playing junior tournaments the year before and had only recently decided that when he grew up he wanted to be a tennis player, yet at nineteen years on the English fields shocked everyone, first of all Rafa, beaten in four sets. It seemed the beginning of a great love, the one between the London grass and the Australian and more generally with tennis in its entirety, for fun and sparkling personality: it wasn’t quite like that, but there is still time. Nadal did not take that defeat well, also due to Kyrgios’ behavior, and after several digs here and there due to Nick’s “propensity” to make a mess on and off the pitch, in 2019 the “bubo” bursts.

Resounding performance

–

In Acapulco, where Nick once again unleashed a sensational performance beating the Spaniard, there was a violent back and forth between the two. “Kyrgios did his he show, he never has respect for the public, for the opponent, for himself,” said Rafa. “I’m different, he’s different. He doesn’t know my path, the one I’ve faced, he doesn’t know anything about me ”, Nick replied. At Wimbledon, also in 2019, there was the episode of the “shot” to the chest of Nadal, with the Australian who said seraphically: “Yes, I did it on purpose: he earned a lot and won many Grand Slams, now I don’t can you take a shot? I lost, but I have proven and continue to prove that without going to the gym, healing myself or training like crazy, I can go outside and play with the best in the world. ” However, both have always said they admired each other. “He has the talent to become number one in the world and to win slams, he plays truly exceptional tennis when he feels like it”, Nadal repeated several times, defined by Kyrgios himself as “a great champion, a source of pride for this sport”. Until the next round.