Indianwells
Rafael Nadal defeated Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (0), 5-7, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open in a match featuring obscenities, underhand serves, a point penalty and smashed rackets.
Nadal improved to 19-0 this year, the third-best start to a season since 1990.
“Happy about that third set because it wasn’t easy after the end of the second. It was terrible for me,” he said on Thursday. “But I hold it emotionally, and mentally, I think I was ready to keep fighting.” So was Kyrgios.
After the post-match handshake, Kyrgios walked to his seat and smashed his racket on the court. It bounced up and away, nearly striking a ball boy standing at the back of the court. Kyrgios walked off to a mix of boos and cheers.
“It landed a meter from my foot and skidded and nearly hit him,” Kyrgios said.
“I’m human. Things happen like that. Obviously it was a very misfortunate bounce. I think if I did that a million times over it wouldn’t have gone that way.” Nadal was on his side of the court and said he didn’t see Kyrgios toss his racket after the match.
“I think Nick had a great attitude during the whole match in terms of fighting spirit, and of course he has his personality, his character,” Nadal said. “Sometimes he does things that I don’t like, but I respect because of different character, different kind of points of view, and different kind of education.” Trailing 0-6 in the first-set tiebreaker, Kyrgios was serving when the chair umpire assessed him a point penalty for an audible obscenity to a fan, giving Nadal the set. Kyrgios dropped the balls he was holding and calmly walked to his seat. In the sixth game of the first set, Kyrgios led 40-love when he served underhanded. Nadal stepped up and bashed a forehand winner down the line. Kyrgios responded with a 140-mph ace to go up 4-2. He also had leads of 3-1 and 5-3 in the set. Nadal won three straight games to lead 6-5 in the first. On the changeover, Kyrgios angrily tossed his racket. He gave the bent racket to a young boy in the stands.
“I was two points away from the first set and I felt like if I had won that first set, the way I was playing, I could have run away with it,” Kyrgios said. “So obviously, I was frustrated, but it was a hell of a match.” Early in the second set, the chair umpire scolded a man in the stands who repeatedly yelled, “Nick! Nick!” The umpire said, “Ten thousand people want to watch tennis and you’re the only one screaming.” The man piped down. Later, the umpire told the crowd not to yell out between first and second serves.
Kyrgios apologises for outburst
Australian Nick Kyrgios apologized for losing his temper after his defeat at the hands of Rafa Nadal at Indian Wells and for smashing his racket into the ground, which then bounced and nearly struck a ball boy.
The ball boy was able to duck out of the way and Kyrgios was then booed by some in the crowd following his 7-6(0) 5-7 6-4 loss to Spaniard Nadal on Thursday. “I just want to apologize to that ball kid at the end of the match,” Kyrgios wrote on Instagram. “It was a complete accident and was frustrated at the end of the match.
