Nick Kyrgios complains of marijuana smell during US Open second round win
By Nick Kyrgios
AFP
The smell was as bad as it gets in tennis when the new-look American tennis star Nick Kyrgios came back from the brink of defeat to beat world No 1 and five-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 Saturday at the US Open.
On the brink of defeat, Kyrgios was two sets to 0 down against an in-form Federer before he stormed back, and the smell had nothing to do with it.
Federer’s last victory against Kyrgios took place in 2010 at the Barcelona Open, and it was the start of a run which would end in the final.
“The guys I played on clay that day will tell you that it had a bad smell, because of people who had the weed in their mouths at one point,” Kyrgios said.
“The second set, probably more than half of the match, I was doing things that I normally do. I’m definitely not happy with the result.”
Federer, who is ranked third on the all-time lists with 28 Grand Slam titles, also lost in straight sets at the 2013 Australian Open in January, ending his year-long run of success in grand slam tournaments with an eighth-ranked match against Juan Martin del Potro.
“I did not play well enough to win the tournament after losing to Federer. That’s part of the business,” Kyrgios said.
Federer could not return to his top-ranked ranking after a five-year absence due to a drug ban from tennis earlier this year, but the Swiss has been in good form recently.
Federer, who played at the Olympics in Rio, will return to the season-ending tournaments beginning with the French Open starting March 7, and Kyrgios will also have been motivated by the tournament in Sydney.
“It’s definitely a big deal for the players. It’s obviously a good one for tennis. It’s just not a good one for me, because it means I have to go out there and put in a lot of work,” Kyrgios said.
“This is a place I really want to win. It’s been a tough few months since I’ve been playing on tour. I’ve had a pretty good run of form, and it just wasn