Quote of the Day: Nick Kyrgios’ mic drop moment: "I just wanted to remind everyone that I'm pretty good"
With a clinical, straight-sets win in the second round, the Aussie made a statement of intent at Wimbledon ahead of his blockbuster rematch with Stefanos Tsitsipas.
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Don’t look now, but Nick Kyrgios has been having himself quite a solid season.
The Aussie began the year on a tear, winning the men’s doubles title with Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Australian Open, his first Grand Slam title. With Kyrgios skipping the European clay-court season, it might be easy to forget that he also reached a quarterfinal at Indian Wells and made a semifinal showing in Houston.
But once Kyrgios returned to the tour for the grass-court swing, he immediately became one of the biggest threats on the surface. He reached back-to-back semifinals in Stuttgart and Halle, including a win over Stefanos Tsitsipas at the latter.
After overcoming a mental and emotional wobble in his opening match at Wimbledon, Kyrgios was all business in the second round with a clinical 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 win over Queen’s Club runner-up Filip Krajinovic.
The 27-year-old dialed up the swagger during his post-match interview, and when asked to assess his performance on Thursday he all but dropped the mic for our Baseline Quote of the Day:
“I’ve been playing some really good tennis over the last month, so I was really surprised with the way I played the other day,” Kyrgios said. “It wasn’t great. But there’s a lot of positives—I didn’t play anywhere near my best and I got through it.
“And today, obviously, I was kind of in my zone. Just great body language, just played well.
“You know, I just wanted to remind everyone that I’m pretty good."
Kyrgios is probably hoping that he's gotten all his Wimbledon drama out of his system, as his third-round encounter will be sure to offer more than enough fireworks: he’s booked a rematch with No. 4 seed Tsitsipas.
"I have a lot of respect for his game, the way he utilizes his talent, the way he really fights... when he wants to," Tsitsipas said with a wry smile in his own on-court interview, after learning that Kyrgios was his next opponent.
The Aussie leads Tsitsipas 3-1 in their official head-to-head record, including a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 win on grass courts a few weeks ago in Halle.