Last night, a punk kid from Canberra with an untimely calf cramp had the crowd at Margaret Court Arena eating out of the palm of his hand as he dug his heels into an epic battle against world No.27 seed Benoit Paire. Your new favourite Australian tennis player is Nick Kyrgios, an 18-year-old with a cracking serve and fearlessly YOLO ground strokes, who ultimately went down to the Frenchman in a five set thriller, 6-7 (5) 6-7 (5) 6-4 6-2 6-2, but not before WINNING OUR HEARTS.
After clinching the first two sets, Kyrgios cramped up in the fourth set and eventually ran out of steam, but he showed huge potential and, more importantly, fantastic sportsmanship and a winning personality – something Australian men’s tennis has been missing since the Pat Rafter glory days (although grudging respect is due to Bernard Tomic’s incredible performance at Sin City Nightclub last year).
“Playing someone who’s top 30 in the world and taking him to five sets
isn’t a bad result,” Kyrgios said after the match.
“It was an honour to be out there – it’s all the process and the more
matches you play like that, the more experience and the more miles you
get on your legs.”
Another up-and-coming Aussie tennis hopeful Thanasi Kokkinakis played a gallant match against world No.1 Rafael Nadal earlier in the day, eventually losing in straight sets.
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Photo: Quinn Rooney via Getty Images
