Nick Kyrgios surprises tennis fans with the name of a star he “really enjoys watching” | Tennis | Sport

Nick Kyrgios seems to have finally settled his long-running dispute with Casper Ruud by effusively praising the tennis star for his performance at the US Open.

The outspoken Australian was known to be vocal in his criticism of Ruud’s efforts on the ATP Tour, once describing the three-time Grand Slam finalist as “boring” to watch.

But the Norwegian only provided entertainment in his impressive 6:4, 6:2, 2:6, 7:6 (3) victory over Gael Monfils and thus reached the third round, where he will face the Chinese Juncheng Shang.

Ruud admitted he was looking to make up for some mistakes after losing to Zhang Zhizhen in a thrilling five-set encounter last year, which said a lot about his unusually motivated character on the court.

“Last year it was a tough five-set match. So I wanted revenge,” he said on the court. “Today it was obviously a different player.”

“This defeat obviously hurt a little considering the result of 2022. I had reached the final and was far from defending it. So I lost in the second round.

“I’ll always have good memories of coming back here, but there have been some tough losses too. That was one of them. Luckily, I got revenge for that tonight.”

Instead of challenging him on social media, Kyrgios seemed to completely change his mind about the 25-year-old. Kyrgios wrote on his official X account: “Ruud stays under the radar… how times have changed, I really enjoy watching his tennis. Seriously.”

This represents a huge change in attitude towards the 29-year-old former Wimbledon finalist, who had previously reacted angrily to Ruud’s comments about him at the 2019 Italian Open, which were the starting point of their dispute.

The tension between the two threatened to boil over after Kyrgios threw a chair during their encounter, which Ruud did not like.

The Norwegian tennis star criticised Kyrgios for his behaviour and called for a six-month ban for his conduct, adding fuel to the fire by calling Kyrgios an “idiot” and “totally crazy”.

That was all it took to spur Kyrgios, who hit back and said: “Hey, Casper Ruud, next time you have something to say, I would appreciate it if you said it to my face.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t talk so much after that. Until then, I’ll continue to prefer watching paint dry to watching you play tennis, boring as the plague.”

Kyrgios has not played a professional match since June 2023 and last took part in a Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows in 2022. But the sporting break seems to have helped him keep his emotions under control after taking on media duties at Wimbledon and the Australian Open.

While things may be more generous between the two in the future, Kyrgios proved he is still a match for world number eight Ruud by defeating him in an Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) match in New York last week.