Injured Nick Kyrgios admits ‘unbelievable’ Milos Raonic ‘was just too good’

Shahida Jacobs
January 15, 2019

It was a struggle to get through his match due to injury, but Nick Kyrgios didn’t use his aches as an excuse for his first-round Australian Open defeat to Milos Raonic.

Having dropped out of the world top 50 on the back of a poor couple of months, Kyrgios was hoping the season-opening Grand Slam would help him to return to form.

However, he came up against an inspired Raonic while he also battled a knee injury throughout the match.

He received medical treatment and was heard telling the trainer “I’ve taken four tablets and it’s gotten worse. It’s f**king terrible. It’s f**ked. It feels like dogs**t mate. Absolute dogs**t.”

The Australian eventually went down 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in an hour and 56 minutes

After the match Kyrgios didn’t use his injury as an excuse for his defeat, saying: “I don’t think that was at all the reason I lost today.

“He played unbelievable. Unbelievable serving. Never seen serving like that in my life. I’ve never been a part of it. I was just watching it literally going side to side. I was trying to mix up where I was standing, trying to move before, during, like trying to do anything.

“He was in such a good rhythm on serve, I couldn’t do anything. He was way too good tonight. Every time I returned, he served and volleyed. He volleyed unbelievable. He was so composed on big points, he made returns, jag returns on big points on my serve. He was way too good for me tonight.”