As the world responds to an astounding Wimbledon upset, it appears the Australian teen behind the win is still in shock himself.
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On Tuesday, the 19-year-old, 144th seed did the unthinkable and bundled out world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in four sets in one of the all-time great Grand Slam giant-slayings.
After the game the clearly stunned Canberra boy tweeted: “Erm, ok then……..”, which was re-tweeted more than 5000 times in the two hours after it was posted.
Kyrgios also publicly thanked his family and friends, tweeting later in the morning: “Slowly sinking in. What an unreal day! Thanks to Simon, AK, Anne-Marie & John Morris for all their hard work. Massive team effort.”
But it’s not just the teenager who is reeling from his stunning win. Headlines touting the Aussie’s victory over the Spaniard were splashed across international news sites on Wednesday morning, hailing the teenager's feat as nothing short of unbelievable.
Marvelling at the wildcard entrant from Australia, The New York Times noted that the “last time a teenager beat a No. 1 player at a Grand Slam event was the at the 2005 French Open”. That teenager was Rafael Nadal.
The BBC wrote glowingly of Kyrgios’s “sensational upset," while Britain's Mirror dissected the teenager’s personal and professional life with the headline: “Nick Kyrgios? Who hell he?”
Britain's Guardian dubbed Kyrgios an Australian teenager "with no fear and a golden arm ... who blew the world No. 1 off centre court".
American tennis great John McEnroe annointed Kyrgios “the next guy in the men's game”.
“I couldn’t believe he could keep that up all match," McEnroe said. "He is acting to me like he can win the whole tournament.”
Former Australian doubles champion Todd Woodbridge tweeted: “Media frenzy over Nick Kyrgios as he comes to terms with win over world No. 1 Nadal,” while actor Hugh Jackman expressed his patriotism by tweeting: “Aussie Aussie Aussie. Such composure and class! But hard off to Rafael Nadal … one of the greatest of all time."
The rising star also earned a mention on Tony Abbott’s Twitter account, with the Prime Minister writing: “Extraordinary performance [from] Nick Kyrgios. Australia couldn’t be prouder of you - what a win & what an amazing attitude!”
How the Aussies fared on Wimbledon Day 8
Men’s singles, 4th round
Nick Kyrgios bt 1-Rafael Nadal (ESP), 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-3
Men’s doubles, 3rd round
Lleyton Hewitt/Chris Guccione lost to 9-Julian Knowle/Marcelo Melo (BRA), 6-3 6-7 (7-2) 7-6 (7-5) 6-3
14-John Peers/Jamie Murray (GBR) lost to 2-Alexander Peya (AUT)/Bruno Soares (BRA) 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-3
Women’s doubles, 3rd round
6-Ashleigh Barty/Casey Dellacqua (AUS) bt 12-Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)/Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ), 7-6 (7-4) 6-0
Samantha Stosur/Flavia Pennetta trail Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)/Lucie Safarova (CZE), 1-6 4-4 - to resume
Mixed doubles, 2nd round
Chris Guccione/Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO) bt 1-Mike Bryan (USA)/Katarina Srebotnik (SLO), 2-6 6-4 6-3
Anastasia Rodionova/Mikhail Elgin (RUS) bt 11-Juan-Sebastian Cabal (COL)/Raquel Kops-Jones (USA), 6-2 7-5
15-Samantha Stosur/Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) bt Martin Emmrich (GER)/Michaella Krajicek (NED), 6-1 6-2
Boys’ singles, 2nd round
Harry Bourchier lost to Tim Van Rijthoven (NED), 6-4 7-6 (9-7)
Boys’ singles, 1st round
Omar Jasika lost to 8-Johan Sebastien Tatlot (FRA), 7-5 4-6 12-10
Girls’ singles, 1st round
16-Naiktha Bains lost to Greetje Minnen (BEL), 6-3 6-4
Kimberly Birrell bt Helen Ploskina (UKR), 2-6 7-5 6-3
Seone Mendez bt Holly Hutchinson (GBR), 6-3 2-6 8-6
