Nick Kyrgios is playing for pride as the Australian continues his march through the field at the US Open.
The Wimbledon finalist is getting closer to duplicating that achievement – perhaps even going one step further – after thrashing top seed Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s fourth round 7-6(11), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
He tangles on Tuesday for a spot in the semis against Karen Khachanov.
The 27-year-old who until this season has been the poster boy for tennis slackers, has whipped his attitude into shape – and, without a coach – and is now being quietly tipped as a possible trophy holder next weekend at Flushing Meadows.
But job one seems to be impressing the hard-to-lease local fans after coming from a No. 137 ranking to his current 25th.
“I just feel like every time I’ve played here, I’ve just played really average. Like, I just don’t feel like I’ve ever felt settled in New York,” he said.
“I get distracted very easily. I feel like I just haven’t shown Flushing Meadows what I’m about really.”
As a notorious bad boy for much of his patchy career of highs and lows. Kyrgios knows he’s not to everyone’s taste.
“Obviously there’s controversy, there’s flare, there’s this, there’s that. But the discipline as well as the hard work (is) intertwined with that as well.
“I hadn’t won a match on Ashe before this week, now I’ve won two against two quality opponents. I feel like
“There’s a lot of celebrities here, a lot of important people here watching. I wanted to get on that court and show them I am able to put my head down and play and win these big matches.
“People (in tennis) were really starting to doubt my ability to pull out matches like this at majors. I’m really proud of myself honestly because it hasn’t been easy dealing with all the criticism.”
