"I Hear No Talking Now. None. Fucking None. Nothing."" -Nick Kyrgios Steamrolled a Hated Rival Last Night And Promptly Talked His Shit After
A locked in, focused Nick Kyrgios is one of the more entertaining to watch in the world. We got that version of him last night as he took to the court in the 3rd round of Indian Wells against one of his hated rivals Casper Ruud. It's not always a guarantee you're going to get a fully-invested Kyrgios, but when he's up against someone like Ruud you can pencil him in as that no questions asked.
If you wanna just hear the clip of him talking shit just scroll a bit, but if you're interested in the reasoning behind it then feast your eyes just below here
The back story here with the rivalry stems back to clay court play. Nick essentially hates clay and thinks it draws zero excitement or eyeballs to the sport. He finds it boring with the long rallies and if it were up to him it wouldn't be part of the sport. Casper Ruud's best surface is clay and it's helped him vault into the ATP top 10 rankings. Kyrgios thinks Ruud steals points by playing and winning in these clay tournaments that almost zero top players participate in. He also thinks Ruud's game is extremely boring and hurts the sport, which he's made clear on social media.
Nick responded to that before deleting the tweet…
The two faced off in a match on clay that resulted in Kyrgios getting DQ'd after an outburst. Ruud celebrated defiantly on the court after the DQ which made Nick laugh on Twitter afterwards. Ruud called Nick an idiot in a post match interview and defended his celebration. That caused this…
Last year Nick again went after clay…
And then we had this little interaction.
So that's the basis of why there is tension between the two. Unfortunately for Ruud, Nick showed up to Indian Wells on a mission. It seems maybe winning a grand slam title in doubles at the Aussie has flipped a bit of a switch with his focus. That and the help of his new girlfriend have him locked in. He steamrolled Casper last night in straight sets, never once facing a break point.
After the match as he was changing his shoes, Nick took the time to talk some shit to the camera directed right at Ruud.
Is…is Nick back? I fucking love this. If he can get all his hated rivals lined up in succession then I think he'd be unstoppable. When he's playing like he has in the first three rounds here there's not many on Earth who can go toe-to-toe with him. This new girlfriend and the awakening he had at the Aussie might be the best thing that's ever happened for his game. She even helps him with his practice.
I personally think I'd be motivated.
Next up for Nick is the very good Jannik Sinner. I don't believe he has any hate towards the young Italian so this one won't come as easy. Nick is currently a slight dog in the match tomorrow if you wanna get involved.