Tennis / nick kyrgios

Australia's Nick Kyrgios has just won the 2019 Mexican Open after astonishingly knocking off some of the biggest names in the game including Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal in his second round match-up. Kyrgios went on to beat world no. 2 Alexander Zverev in the final 6-3 6-4 in front of a stunned centre court crowd. 'Unpopular' would be the best word to describe Australia's Nick Kyrgios in the world of tennis, to many who follow the game or just sport in general find the 23-year-old too "full on" and egotistic despite his obvious talent on the court. As a proud Australian, I can't help but think that Nick is judged way too harshly in the media & public just because he has a personality. Sure his body language isn't always the most tasteful, and his attitude can be perceived as a 'spoiled brat' but his determination and fight is unquestionable. A vast-majority of the public here in Australia haven't been supportive towards Kyrgios, so this Mexican Open title may have some haters holding a bit of a grudge for some time, or perhaps he may have won back some respect in the process. Coming into the tournament, the Australian didn't even feature in the predictions to take out the title as a bit of a smokey. Kyrgios's dream-run started in his first match-up of the tournament where he defeated Andreas Seppi in straight sets 6-3, 7-5 as he advanced to the round of 16 where he found himself up against Rafael Nadal. It was always going to be a tough ask against the world No. 2, and Kyrgios found himself well & truly on the back foot against Nadal and was just about at breaking point before fighting back from a set down to win consecutive tie-breaks in a fiercely-fought match. The 23-year-old had just defeated two quality opponents in Seppi and Nadal, but his streak didn't stop there. Facing off against Stan 'the man' Wawrinka in the quarter-final, it seemed as if the Australian was getting the rough end of the stick with such quality opponents forming a line to bring down a man ranked outside of the top 30. Nevertheless, a first set advantage to Kyrgios left the Swiss some making up to do in the second set, and he did exactly that leveling the game at one set apiece. A tie-break was the only thing standing in the way of a third-consecutive victory, but it was Kyrgios who took the deciding set against Wawrinka to win 7-5, 6-7, 6-4 advancing to the semi-final. Up against USA's John Isner, the world no. 3 was making easy work of his opponents apart from Australia's John Millman who challenged Isner in three-consecutive tie-breaks before the American got the job done. Similar to the quarter-final, Kyrgios won the first set but couldn't back it up in the second taking the match to yet another third set. That third set ended in a tie-breaker going the Aussie's way 9-7 which advanced him to the Mexican Open final! Seppi, Nadal, Wawrinka and Isner were all Kyrgios's victims throughout the four matches, and you can add world no. 2 Alexander Zverev to that growing list as the German proved no match for the Australian going down in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. He may not have the biggest fan club in the world, but at the end of the day Nick Kyrgios was the best player to hold a tennis racquet in Acapulco and nobody can take that away from him.