Almost every good movie manages to immerse us in its world by displaying a bitter rivalry between two characters. It’s often overlooked just how entertaining it is to watch two almost evenly matched individuals duke it out with pretty much whatever they can get their hands on.
Well, today’s article is dedicated to two bitter rivals that settle their differences with yellow balls and tennis rackets.
Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios have been rivals for not too long when we look at it. The rivalry started sometime around the Summer of 2019 where Kyrgios lost a match against Nadal during which he deliberately aimed a shot at him.
He was ridiculed because of this as he did not show any kind of remorse for this action, and non-sportsmanlike behavior is always frowned upon by the spectator, especially when it’s about Tennis which features zero physical contact between the opponents.
How the public reacted
The fact that these two players’ relationship is even considered as the rivalry is due to their very frequent matches against one another. Currently, there have been around seven matches, four of which were won by Nadal.
Although the rivalry was instigated by Kyrgios because of the shot, Nadal was quick to criticize him during an interview, where he said Kyrgios respected neither the opponent nor the crowd.
This quickly transitioned over to a duel on Social Media where Kyrgios was trying to somehow answer Nadal’s remarks about him. However, the whole confrontation didn’t benefit him that much.
Needless to say, the Australian tennis player lost a lot of fans on the day he aimed deliberately aimed that shot at Nadal, and even more when he refused to apologize or take responsibility for his actions. However, the effect of Kyrgios’ behavior became the clearest when sportsbooks started decreasing his odds. A specific occurrence can be seen on this web site where analysts were predicting Nadal’s improved performance after such a fight on Social Media.
More than just a match
Even though most tennis fans believe that there’s nobody that’s a match for Rafael Nadal, Nick Kyrgios has managed to stay quite close to him despite being ranked 25 places lower.
The seven matches between the two players ended with Nadal winning only four as mentioned above. That leaves three wins for Kyrgios, which is quite an achievement considering his ranking and the controversy he’s embroiled in right now.
The reason why the rivalry has resurfaced once again, after a month or so of being relatively dormant, is because of a cancelation of a match between Kyrgios and Nadal due to injuries yesterday as well as a similar occurrence between González and Stepanek recently.
It was recorded that González shot the ball directly at Stepanek deliberately, after which he was un-apologetic. This caused Kyrgios to take to Twitter and say why he should apologize to Nadal when González was doing the same thing.
Regardless of whose side you are on in this rivalry, a match between Nadal and Kyrgios is a sight to behold. Not only are the players professionals and display some of the best tennis play out there, but there’s also the entertainment value of their rivalry, which adds that extra spark to every shot each player hits.
