Indian Wells 2019 – Rafael Nadal Opens Up On Nick Kyrgios Controversy

Published 03/07/2019, 7:23 AM EST

As Rafael Nadal heads towards the Palm Springs Masters event in California for defending his fourth crown in the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells 2019. He brought Nick Kyrgios’ squabble during their round-of-16 showdown in Acapulco last week, once again into the public’s notice when asked about his first-round clash at the Indian Wells 2019.

Their match drew quite a lot of attention on the ATP circuit. Kyrgios did not win any break points and Nadal outnumbered the Australian by ten points in terms of total points won. Despite the absurd statistics, Kyrgios lift up the Mexican Open title by defeating Stan Wawrinka and Alexander Zverev en route. Also, he practised an underarm serve against the Spaniard.

The World Number two, Rafael Nadal was interrogated upon his opening round ties at the Indian Wells 2019. “None of you were in Acapulco and most of you wrote about the match. I invited you to watch the press conference,” Nadal said. “I meant what I said, it was in Spanish, some translations are taken out of context. Most of what I said about him was positive.”

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“I heard Nick put some stuff on his social media. I’m not that young, I don’t check social media every day. I don’t feel disrespected by him serving underhand. He is free to do whatever the rules allow him to do. I understand this part of the game and I think it’s a good show for the game, but there’s other stuff in my opinion he can do better. Everybody is free to do whatever they want, but at the end of the day, in my opinion, he has an impact on the new generation. He’s young, he’s a famous player and in my opinion, we need to show good values for the kids,” Nadal added.

At the Indian Wells 2019, the second seed, Nadal is sharing space in the same half with his longtime rival, Roger Federer and they are expected to meet in the semifinals of the Indian Wells 2019. Before the quarters, Nadal might take on Diego Schwartzman, David Goffin and Daniil Medvedev in the earlier rounds of the Californian desert tournament at the Indian Wells 2019.

If Nadal surpasses Federer in the last-four showdown, it would probably be the repetition of the Australian Open 2019 final at the Indian Wells 2019, where Nadal would take on Novak Djokovic for the title. Djokovic might face Kygrios in the third round of the Indian Wells 2019.

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Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.