Nick Kyrgios confirmed his status as the rising star of Australian tennis by moving into the fourth-round of Wimbledon where he will meet world no.1 Rafael Nadal.
The 19-year-old defeated Czech Jiri Vesely 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-2 to become the first wildcard to reach the Round of 16 at the All England Club since Juan Carlos Ferrero in 2009.
Anticipation will continue to build ahead of the showdown with the the 14-time grand slam winner, with the match being delayed by 24-hours due to bad weather wrecking havoc with the tournament schedule.
The match will be Kyrgios’ first appearance on a showcourt at Wimbledon, with the emerging talent also guaranteed to almost double his career earnings.
However the Canberra prodigy was adamant he would make Nadal work for every point and that he had the game to shock the Spanish legend.
“Definitely I will take a lot of pride in the scoreline,” said Kyrgios. “Of course I have nothing to lose out there.
“Anything is possible. I’m just going to go out there and play my game. I think that’s definitely enough to be competitive.
“I never thought that I would be seeing Nadal in my fourth round Wimbledon in my 19th year.
Kyrgios’ performance at Wimbledon is set to see his ranking soar inside the world’s top-100 for the first time, the first teenager the achieve the feat since Bernard Tomic in 2011.
The Aussie starlet has won many admirers on his way to the second week of a grand slam for the first time. Many pointing to the fact that he saved nine match points in his second round clash five set epic with Richard Gasquet as indicative of his fighting spirit.
Having been ranked a lowly 840 barely 18 months ago, Kyrgios now boasts one of the biggest serves in the game. He has currently served 76 aces for the tournament, the most of any player in the Men’s draw.
No doubt he’ll need to call on all his firepower in his match against the world No.1 and top seed Nadal on Monday night. You’ll be able to catch all the action on the big screen at SSC, where we’ll have all the finals match ups from the All England Club.