Beaten Nick Kyrgios is finally going all-in on tennis

“I honestly feel like shit,” the 27-year-old Australian said, after his five-set defeat by Karen Khachanov in the quarter-finals. “I feel like I’ve let so many people down. I just don’t know. I feel like these four [grand-slam] tournaments are the only ones that ever are going to matter. It’s just like you got to start it all again. I have to wait till the Australian Open [in January].

“It’s just devastating. Like, it’s heartbreaking. Not just for me, but for everyone that I know that wants me to win.”

There was a time when Kyrgios would have told reporters after a loss like this that he was more interested in a game of basketball with his friends back home in Canberra. But he has given just about everything he has to tennis this summer, claiming 26 match victories on the tour since the start of the grass-court season in June. No player has won more.

His US Open exit is undoubtedly a missed opportunity. After finishing runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in July, Kyrgios had arrived in North America with new-found belief in himself before the hard-court swing. With the draw wide open after his win against the defending champion, Daniil Medvedev, and the subsequent departure of the 22-times grand-slam singles winner, Rafael Nadal, Kyrgios will be kicking himself for some time that he could not take full advantage.

Yet, when the dust settles, he should still look back at this summer with pride. This was a new Kyrgios – 2.0 if you like – we watched in recent months. The temper still flares, as seen in spectacular style when he obliterated two rackets after losing to Khachanov, but during matches he has developed a much-needed ability to quickly move on from a rant and refocus on his tennis. Doubts that he could both physically and mentally come through seven best-of-five set matches over the course of a fortnight have been dismissed – bear in mind that he was only two sets from winning Wimbledon.

At the end of a busy period, Kyrgios gave himself a little too much work to do from two sets to one down in an intense match that finished at close to 1am in New York. Khachanov, the No 27 seed, was both calm and steady throughout a 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 victory in three hours and 39 minutes.

The first set was dominated by the serves of both players. Khachanov claimed the rare perfect game by hitting four aces to hold for 6-5 and then broke the Kyrgios serve with a backhand lob for the set. Kyrgios called the physio onto the court for a medical treatment on his left knee before telling his coaching team that he was in pain when he merely walked.

“I can’t go on,” Kyrgios said. “I don’t want to f***** play through this shit. I don’t want to play through it.”

Within minutes, all suddenly appeared well. Kyrgios claimed his first break of the match for 2-1 in the second set and went on to level the match.

The third set was pivotal. Kyrgios failed to convert two break points for a 5-4 lead and slammed his racket onto the court surface after a poorly hit forehand landed long of the baseline. He saved two set points at 5-4 down but could not save a third at 6-5 behind. Once again he made his frustration clear by angrily throwing a water battle and ranting towards his team, for which he received a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct.

To his credit, Kyrgios knuckled down and worked his way back into the match by winning the fourth set, but the wind was taken out of his sails when Khachanov claimed an immediate break at the start of the decider.

Kyrgios now heads back to Australia without a piece of major silverware to show for this long trip, and it is unclear whether he will fulfil a commitment to return to action at the Japan Open in Tokyo next month.

“I think pretty much every other tournament during the year is a waste of time really,” Kyrgios said. “You should just run up and show up at a grand slam. That’s what you’re remembered by.”

Khachanov, from Russia, now progresses to a first grand slam semi-final at the age of 26 against Casper Ruud, the No 5 seed from Norway, tomorrow (Friday).

He believes that Nadal’s fourth-round defeat by Frances Tiafoe has provided a dose of rocket fuel for those remaining in the draw.

“Since he was out, I would say it was quite open for all the guys because everybody could kind of see that there is an opportunity to take the trophy,” Khachanov said. “Maybe it even increased the level for everyone.”

-The Times

Originally published as Beaten Nick Kyrgios is finally going all-in on tennis