"She’s very capable of winning a Grand Slam again so I’m glad that I have those supporters and I’m happy she loves watching my tennis" - Nick Kyrgios on Emma Raducanu
Nick Kyrgios will take on Rafael Nadal in a much-awaited semifinal at Wimbledon on Friday. Kyrgios, who has been in the midst of controversies relating to his on-court antics, now faces a court summons for an alleged assault.
Over the course of a post-match press conference after his quarterfinal win, the Aussie was asked what he thought of Emma Raducanu's complimentary "NK" tweet that appeared to support him.
Appreciate the support! twitter.com/emmaraducanu/s…
The 27-year-old asserted that the British teenager was going to become "a very important player on the WTA tour for a very long time" after having won a Grand Slam as an 18-year-old and was happy that she watched him play.
"She’s obviously gonna be a very important player on the WTA tours for a very long time. She’s obviously capable of winning a Grand Slam at 19. I mean I don’t even know how old she is exactly, 19 I think. She’s very capable of doing that again so I’m glad that I have those supporters and I’m happy you know if she loves watching my tennis, that’s great," Kyrgios said.
The Australian reckoned that the 2021 US Open champion's post came in the wake of what he had "stuck up for" in the media. He went on to add that older tennis legends were opinionated about "young, important players," hinting that Raducanu too had been a target of their contempt much like himself.
"I enjoy watching her tennis as well but I think that was just a bit of payback for how much I’ve kinda stuck up for in the media," he said.
"I haven’t had much communication with Emma before. I feel like I’ve kind of stuck up for a bit in the media with you know some of the stuff that older legends kinda just love to throw shade and have their opinions on young players, young important players," he added.
"My mental performance against Tsitsipas was amazing, with everything going on in that match" - Nick Kyrgios
Nick Kyrgios stressed that his mental level in the ill-tempered and stormy third-round match against Stefanos Tsitsipas was "amazing.
When asked if his mental performance in the fourth round and the quarterfinals had been better than whilst defeating Tsitsipas, the 27-year-old Aussie maintained that he was able to maintain a good level of competitiveness without losing focus.
"Look I think my mental performance against Tsitsipas was amazing, with everything going on in that match and I was still able to maintain a good level of that competitiveness, I felt like that was always the most difficult because a lot of things could’ve taken my focus away," he said.
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The 2014 Wimbledon quarterfinalist had asked for his opponent to be defaulted, and then received a code violation and a fine for verbal abuse during the fiery encounter.