This 19-Year-Old Just Kicked Rafael Nadal Out Of Wimbledon
Nick Kyrgios, a wild card entry to Wimbledon, just won against world number one and number two seed Rafael Nadal. Who the fuck is this guy?
Currently ranked 144, Kyrgios is part Greek and part Malaysian but hails from Australia. He's won a few juniors doubles and singles grand slams, but turned pro last year, making it to the second round of the Australian Open via a wild card. During Tuesday''s match, Kyrgios biggest moment came when he broke Nadal—who just came off winning the French Open while looking dog-ass exhausted—in the fourth set, prompting him to literally jump for joy.
Nadal managed to get two games under his belt after that but that 4-1 hole was too much. He'd been off all tournament, but during his match he was even more tired and drawn, hitting only 11 aces to Kyrgios's 37. The Australian also got that rare sparkle of youth—as your friendly neighborhood television commentators will breathlessly remind you, his win makes this the first time a player ranked outside the top 100 has defeated a world number one at Wimbledon since 1992, when No. 193 Andrei Olhovskiy put down Jim Courier. He was also "the first guy born in the 1990s that Nadal has lost to" and "the first teenager to defeat a world No 1 at a grand slam" since Nadal did that with Federer in 2005. Which is probably making 28-year-old Nadal (and 32-year-old Federer, who Kyrgios has cited as his greatest inspiration) feel really good right now.
Kyrgios's youth is apparent through his ~social media presence~; he's got his own hashtag that he likes throwing around (#NKRising), enjoys a good LOL via memes now and then and his Instagram handle is k1ngkyrg1os. But he's still got a ways to go. In the quarterfinals he faces Canadian Mios Raonic, currently ranked 9th. Plus even his mom didn't think he had a chance winning against Nadal, which has gotta sting.
Image via Al Bello/Getty
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