Nick Kyrgios Crashes Out Of The US Open As Russian Karen Khachanov Upsets The Aussie in a Late Night Five Set Thriller

Frey/TPN. Getty Images.

The olds of the tennis guard collectively let out a deep sigh of relief when they woke up this morning to see the odds on favorite Nick Kyrgios had been knocked out of the US Open. In a match that dipped into the early hours of Wednesday morning, Russia's Karen Khachanov, aka dollar store Liam Hemsworth, found a way to edge out the unpredictable Aussie in five rollercoaster sets. 

It was a weird one for sure, with Kyrgios starting out favoring his leg and barely moving around the court. Multiple times he shouted to his team that he couldn't walk. His serve kept him alive in the opener until the game before the would-be tiebreak where he got broken. The trainer came out, rubbed some cream on his knee to try and relieve the pain. As the second set got going Nick started to play better and broke early, leading to him running away with the set and leveling the match. 

From that point on the Nick Kyrgios we saw all tournament came to play. All of a sudden with a set under his belt he began moving better and putting pressure on the Russian. After the match Nick said he was just flat and tweaked the knee a bit, but for the final three sets he said he felt great and didn't put any blame on that. The big problem for those final three sets? His opponent Karen Khachanov raised his level even higher and didn't crack. 

Hats off to Khachanov because he really did play one hell of a match. There were multiple times this dude could have crumbled on his serve and given into the pressure Nick was putting on him. Almost every time he came up with the big serve or the huge backhand to keep Kyrgios at bay. Despite the crowd completely against him he managed to keep his composure and come up big on the big points. He didn't take too kindly to the crowd by the way. Shades of Medvedev at the Aussie earlier this year against Rafa. 

I didn't give Khachanov a puncher's chance after that 4th set breaker. Kyrgios looked like he was poised to steamroll in the decider, with the crowd going nuts at Arthur Ashe Stadium. 

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What'd Khachanov do? He broke Nick right out of the gates in the 5th. The Russian would face break points in his next two service games only to form a brick wall against Kyrgios. Did Nick start off the match oddly and not really settle in until the 3rd? Definitely, but from that point on it was a best two out of three set match and Karen Khachanov flat-out won it. The biggest key? Constantly serving into the body of Kyrgios and preventing Nick from ripping winners on second serves. Medvedev failed to do this last round and it ended him. That wasn't the case Tuesday night. Match highlights below, sorry for lack of twitter clips they just don't allow much because they don't know how to grow the sport. 

Right after the match Nick let out some frustration, destroying a few rackets. I'm sure this is all people will talk about, but who cares? He'll pay his fine and move on. The guy is mad he blew a big match, let him be mad.

This was the best chance Kyrgios had at a grand slam singles championship so far in his career. In reality he was never beating Djokovic at Wimbledon, but here he had it all set up and let it slip away. He knows it and that shit is going to eat at him. I've never seen him so dejected from a loss than I did last night in his post match presser. In the past he wouldn't care and just move on, happy to be done playing tennis for a bit. This time he mentioned how frustrating it is that the Aussie is so far away. 

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For the first time in his career Kyrgios decided to give a shit about winning and not just be a showman. He stopped going out, he ate right, he actually devoted time to practice, and he played tons of matches. All those things are uncharacteristic for him as crazy as that sounds for a pro athlete of his caliber. But all that time and effort was for nothing according to Nick. 

I don't necessarily see it that way. Sure it's disappointing as hell to lose to the inferior player in Khachanov, especially with what awaited him next in Casper Ruud. There was no Djokovic, Nadal, or Federer waiting for him after this. He was the top dog for the first time in his life and he couldn't get it done. It sucks, but this sudden chase of a slam victory in 2021 gave fans the gift of watching this dude finally tap into that potential. Hopefully coming up short gives him the fire to go nuts for the Aussie and give it his all again. 

It was a really fun year of tennis for Nick Kyrgios. To see him this motivated and locked in was something I've wanted ever since he came onto the scene and made a name for himself. He's so fucking entertaining to watch, whether it's the good or the bad. Lately it's been a lot of good and some extremely high level tennis. Sure he's got his demons, and his antics bother people to the point they'll always root for him to lose, but to me I see him constantly as this incredible piece for the sport. Nick Kyrgios brings in eyeballs who would never even think of watching tennis. Eyeballs are eyeballs, especially when the heads of the sport are all these old guys who only care about the purity and tradition. Fuck right off with that. Nick is different. His combination of immense talent, unpredictability, candidness, and eccentricity makes him a constant must watch athlete to me. 

He's got some stuff to sort out in legal court and also take care of his sick mom who he's been away from for months now. Handle all that and bring this same energy to next year's slams. If he does that the breakthrough is inevitable and my god people are gonna hate it. Go Nick Go.

P.S. Shout out to Kyrgios' team who have taken it on the chin from that man all year long. Nick's way of letting out frustration in himself is just berating this group of people. Costeen his girlfriend (left), Daniel Horsfall his manager (right), and Will Maher his trainer (middle). They're the co-stars of every one of his matches with the things that get shouted at them. 

Julian Finney. Getty Images.

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It's all love in the end, but you can't help but feel bad for them at times. They just have to eat it.

P.P.S. With Kyrgios out of the tournament that leaves Casper Ruud vs. Khachanov in one side's semifinal. Talk about a snooze fest, yikes. At least on the other side you have Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Tiafoe to excite people. No offense to Andrey Rublev he's a good dude, but I don't think many are picking him to root for over the other three. It would be perfect, however, after the Wimbledon ban for two Russians to face off for the title in the states. With that being said, let's fucking go Tiafoe this afternoon. 

I wrote way too many words for this blog. Apologies.