Nick Kyrgios won the ATP 500 tournament in Washington D.C. The Australian player defeated Danil Medvedev after two tiebreaks, 7-6, 7-6, and 97 minutes of play, reaching his 6th professional trophy.
The bad boy of tennis showed his bright side at last. Kyrgios was all over the media recently, mostly because of his negative behavior. Calling out Novak Djokovic, making rude comments about other colleagues from the tour, provided him the headlines. Luckily for both the Aussie and the fans, he finally reached the middle of attention, creating some positive news.
His victory in D.C. brings him back on the right track, hopefully for a long time. Kyrgios expressed gratitude towards the crowd in the USA capital, adding that they are the biggest reason for his victory.
“I’ve had people behind me, backing me, and they never lost faith in me even when I lost faith in myself. This week means a lot,”
the player said.
As during the entire week, Kyrgios had an excellent relationship with the fans in the finals. Before the matchpoint, he asked one lady from the stands where to serve. The Aussie listened to her advice and scored an ace which decided the tournament.
It was a nice match to watch, as both winner and Medvedev played excellent tennis with a lot of nice moves. In certain moments, it looked more like an exhibition match.
The opening set was very close, and it seemed that the Russian has more chances to take it. Medvedev lost only one point on his serve until the tiebreak, and was extremely confident in that aspect of the contest. He also had a set-point with leading 6:5, but Kyrgios managed to come back and to win the first sequence.
It seemed that he got the swing, but Medvedev didn’t want to back out. These two kept fighting on, providing another spectacle to the audience. The only difference was that this time Kyrgios didn’t allow the Russian to start the tiebreak comfortably, but instead, he took over the wheel and win that part with 6:4.
“We all know how well Nick can play when he wants to. This week he wanted to play, and he was tough,”
Medvedev said after the trophy ceremony.
We need to add that Kyrgios had problems with spasms in his back, which additionally increase the value of this trophy.
After this victory, he will be wealthier for $365,390 and add 500 ATP points to his account. On Monday’s ATP rankings Kyrgios sits at No.27 with 1475 points, but with nice prospects to go even higher. Stan Wawrinka, who is 22nd, has only 240 points more.
As for Medvedev, he is now 8th player of the world with 2745 points, after adding 300 from Washington.
