Nick Kyrgios ‘devastated’ after quarterfinal defeat to Karen Khachanov as he destroys two rackets on court at Indian Wells (Photos)
After he was unable to break through against the world No 1, Novak Djokovic, at the US Open last week in Los Angeles, 21-year-old Australian Nick Kyrgios ended his quarterfinal campaign, after losing to American Karen Khachanov in an epic semi-final.
The Aussie has now gone 24 matches without a victory against a Top 10 opponent and has been plagued by injuries in his career – he was injured in his first match at the Australian Open and missed the 2015 US Open and the 2017 Australian Open.
But now Kyrgios has been devastated after falling to the No 8 ranked Khachanov, who had never lost to the current No 2 in his career before in 2017.
Kyrgios’ career has been on the edge since early 2017, when he was left out of the world No 1’s tour and forced to miss the US Open to regain his fitness.
On Monday, Kyrgios came back from his ‘blackest day’ to win the title in Indian Wells, coming from behind to beat the American in a match that lasted a little over 4 hours.
Kyrgios, who was suffering from back problems and had a hamstring problem, said in Indian Wells: “I really don’t know what to say right now.”
He said that he has been out for 11 months, since losing to Djokovic during the quarterfinal of the US Open.
“I’ve been struggling so badly for so long and I’ve only had a few months to live with this injury,” Kyrgios said.
Kyrgios on Tuesday will play the first of his two doubles matches at Indian Wells against the No 4 ranked Daniel Nestor, in the opening round of singles.
In a quarterfinal match at Acapulco, Kyrgios beat Dominic Thiem, the world No 2, and then lost to the world No 3, Kevin Anderson, in a marathon final.
Now he is going back to the US Open to try to make up for the lost time with more matches and will take a lot of encouragement
