Nadal knows he can’t lose, says Kyrgios
Australian firebrand says the ‘king of clay’ should win another French Open title and his generation would have to wait a bit longer before Spaniard loosens his grip
Nick Kyrgios believes the French Open is Rafael Nadal’s to lose and that his generation will have to wait a little longer before releasing the old guard’s grip on men’s tennis.
The fiery Australian, who famously defeated Nadal at Wimbledon in 2014 when he was just 19 and ranked 144 in the world, has still to get beyond the quarter-finals of a major.
Indeed, the big four of Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray have captured 25 of the last 29 grand slams.
Of the other four, Stan Wawrinka has three with just Marin Cilic at the 2014 US Open managing to play the role of shock gatecrasher.
For Kyrgios, Nadal remains the overwhelming favourite to win a 10th French Open and take his personal majors haul to 15.
“Nadal, I don’t think he’s worried at all about anyone in this tournament, to be fair,” said the 18th seeded Australian, who downed German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 to reach the second round at Roland Garros.