‘Don’t consider him an old guy’ – Daniil Medvedev feels Nick Kyrgios is still a challenging opponent
Daniil Medvedev has refused to “consider Nick Kyrgios as an old guy” and believes he is still an extremely challenging opponent to encounter.
At this week’s Miami Open, all of the seasoned veterans competing on the East Coast suffered early exits before the fourth round. As such, Australian player Nick Kyrgios was the oldest player competing at just 26 years and 11 months old.
Despite being just 26, Kyrgios has been on the ATP Tour since 2013, for the past nine years. As such, Kyrgios likely has a lot of tennis left to play in his career.
In February, Kyrgios revealed that he had suffered from depression throughout his career and admitted to self-harming.
However, Kyrgios has said he “feels more at peace” recently and has delivered some excellent displays at this year’s ‘Sunshine Double’ of the Indian Wells Masters and the Miami Open.
Kyrgios began the new year in fine fettle by winning the Australian Open doubles title alongside close friend Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Then at last week’s Indian Wells, Kyrgios stormed to the quarter-finals where he lost to 21-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal. Kyrgios put in a valiant performance but the Spanish legend proved too strong an opponent.
When asked about Kyrgios being the oldest player competing in the Miami Open’s fourth round, US Open champion and World number two Daniil Medvedev said “I don’t consider Nick as an old guy.
“I think he is still young and as we see, he has a lot of potential to make some crazy results.
“Even better than he did before if he already did some good ones. I think it’s great.”
As Grand Slam legends Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, as well as a number of seasoned professionals like three-time Slam winner Andy Murray, all look to be entering the closing stages of their careers, Medvedev also weighed in on the next generation of stars.
The Russian number one was also asked about the low average age of players competing in the round of 16, to which Medvedev replied “I actually didn’t know but it is actually amazing for tennis. To see all these young guys coming up.
“All the guys coming from Juniors [level tennis], I feel like, the more the age group, the closer we are. It is a great competition between all of us.”
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