Rafael Nadal Doesn’t Fall for Nick Kyrgios’s Bag of Tricks

WIMBLEDON, England — The rematch was just about worth the five-year wait, as Nick Kyrgios and Rafael Nadal probed each other’s characters and explored the borders of their own talents in the second round of Wimbledon on Thursday.

Their duel had something often lacking in this memorable era of men’s tennis: an edge, as Kyrgios showboated and intentionally smacked balls at Nadal’s body, ignoring the glares that Nadal sometimes fired back.

But more than that, the match, a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) victory for Nadal, offered an irresistible contrast in styles and — not to get too deep over a tennis match — a contrast in philosophies of life.

Nadal, 33, has been maximizing his effort and his talent since he was a teenager. He has 18 Grand Slam singles titles to show for it, including two at Wimbledon, and seems to want nothing more than to rest his head on a pillow at the end of a day knowing he has done all he could.

Source: The New York Times

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