‘He changes the dynamics,’ Rafael Nadal lauds Nick Kyrgios’ motivation after their grueling quarterfinal at Indian Wells
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Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal continues his unbeaten run in the Californian desert and survives a stern test from Australian showman Nick Kyrgios. Nadal got the better of Kyrgios in three sets 7-6(0),5-7,6-4 in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Indian Wells Masters. In doing so, Nadal has reached the semifinal at Indian Wells for the 11th time and has extended his winning match streak in 2022 to 19.
After the match, Nadal analyzed his performance and spoke highly of Kyrgios. He said that he didn’t play his best tennis today because the Australian didn’t allow him to. He further said that Kyrgios changes the dynamics of the points very quickly and has a huge first serve which is why playing him is very tricky.
“I think I played well in some moments. It’s difficult to play against him, it’s tough because he changes the dynamics of the points very quickly, his serve is huge, especially the first one. So I was lucky to save the first set but then in the second when I was under control, I again played a bad game at 6-5. But I think I played a good third set- returning better, had a good serve apart from one game. Nick is one of the kinds of players you’re gonna have trouble playing against when he’s motivated. So happy for the win,” Nadal said.
‘Tennis is all about momentum’: Rafael Nadal
After losing the second set in the worst possible way, all the momentum had shifted towards Kyrgios. The Aussie started the third set on serve with a bang and held serve easily. Nadal, on the other hand, struggled with his serve and even faced a couple of breakpoints. Speaking to Paul Annacone, Nadal said that tennis is all about momentum and in order to break Kyrgios’ momentum, Nadal had to hold on.
“Tennis is all about momentum. And I know after Nick winning the second set, the beginning of the third will be very important. I just needed to save the first couple of games and then the match came back to normal and anything could’ve happened. And then I played well, of course when you’re in the third set against a player like Nick, anything can happen,” Rafa said.
He then added that he has been winning a lot of matches in recent months and hence had the confidence to pull off another match. “But I’ve been winning quite a lot of matches from the last month and a half so I just felt ready to go. I am just happy to be in the semifinals,” he added.
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Lakshya Chopra
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