By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Nick Kyrgios is on cloud nine after reaching his maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at Wimbledon, and the Aussie says he doesn’t want his run to stop now.

After his 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 victory over Chile’s Cristian Garin in the quarterfinals, Kyrgios looked forward to his 10th career clash with Rafael Nadal, and their third at Wimbledon.



“It would be pretty special to play Rafa here,” he said. “We've had some absolute battles on that Centre Court. He's won one against me, and I've won one against him.

“Obviously, we know, two completely different personalities. I feel like we respect the hell out of each other, though. I feel like that would be a mouth-watering kind of encounter for everyone around the world. That would probably be the most-watched match of all time. I would argue that.”

Kyrgios has faced Nadal nine times, and won three of the matches. His percentage is even better at Wimbledon where he has split two meetings with Nadal. He defeated Nadal on his Wimbledon debut in 2014, and lost to Nadal in 2019, in the second round.

Working in the Aussie’s favor is the fact that Nadal has a nagging abdominal issue to deal with. He was able to slip past Taylor Fritz in five sets on Wednesday, but hinted that he isn’t really sure how he’ll turn up on Friday for the semifinals.

“First thing I hope to be ready to play it, that's the first thing no?” Nadal said of the impending clash. “Nick is is he's a great player in in all the surfaces but especially here on grass. He's having a great grass court season it is going to be a big challenge, I need to be at my 100 percent to keep having chances and that’s what I am going to try to do."