Nick Kyrgios has revealed how a history of US Open flops fuelled his inspired fourth-round victory over world No.1 Daniil Medvedev.
Kyrgios rocketed into the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows for the first time, regained his place in the world’s top 20, and usurped Alex de Minaur as Australian No.1 with a rousing 7-6 (13-11) 3-6 6-3 6-2 defeat of Medvedev on Sunday night.
Not that the Wimbledon finalist needed any personal vindication of his capabilities.
Kyrgios would have returned to the top 15 in July had ATP Tour officials not stripped Wimbledon of rankings-points status in objection to the All England Club’s banning of Russian and Belarusian players.
“The ranking system doesn’t reward skill and form, to be honest, over a certain period of time,” the world No.25 said after setting up a last-eight showdown with another Russian, 27th seed Karen Khachanov, on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST).
“It definitely rewards consistency, more so. I’ve played 12 events. Some of the people in front of me have played 32.
“Obviously, it’s almost impossible for me to be higher ranked unless I’m going deep like this in tournaments. The rankings for me doesn’t really matter.
“I feel like tonight was another message that rankings don’t matter.
“I see No.1 (seed) next to his name and I see 23 next to mine. That doesn’t change anything for me. I don’t care whether I’m seeded or not.
“The rankings, I mean, I don’t think they mean anything.”
What tennis’s great entertainer really craved was to “give the people a show”, having never progressed beyond round three in eight previous trips to New York.
“I just feel like every time I played here, I’ve just played really average,” Kyrgios said.
“Like, I just don’t feel like I’ve ever felt settled in New York. I feel like I kind of get distracted very easily. I just haven’t shown Flushing Meadows what I’m about really.
“Obviously there’s controversy, there’s flair, there’s this, there’s that. But the discipline as well as the hard work intertwined with that as well, I feel like this time around (it’s there).”
As well as his run to the Wimbledon title match, Kyrgios had featured in quarter-finals at the Australian Open and another at SW19.
But the 27-year-old had never even won a match at Arthur Ashe Stadium until toppling his great mate and doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first round last Monday.
“Now I’ve won two against two quality opponents,” he said. “I’ve been able to showcase (my talents).
“There’s a lot of celebrities here, a lot of important people here watching. I wanted to get on that court and show them I am able to put my head down and play and win these big matches.
“For the tennis world, I think it’s important as well. People were really starting to doubt my ability to pull out matches like this at majors.
“It hasn’t been easy dealing with all the criticism. I’m just proud of the way that I’ve bounced back after everything, honestly. I’ve been in some really tough situations mentally, and in some really scary places.
“I just sat there in the locker room after and I’m just super proud of the performance because there was really a time where I didn’t think I was capable of producing and doing this any more.”
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