Nick Kyrgios comes up with brilliant new nickname for Daniil Medvedev at Wimbledon
Nick Kyrgios was very impressed with Daniil Medvedev's Wimbledon quarter-final win over world No.1 Jannik Sinner.
Nick Kyrgios has dubbed Daniil Medvedev the 'Slim Reaper' after the Russian upset world No.1 Jannik Sinner to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals.
The Australian has not played on court at Wimbledon since reaching the 2022 final in which he lost to Novak Djokovic. But he has been on punditry duties for the BBC at the All England Club this year.
And Kyrgios tuned in to Medvedev's epic five-set match against Sinner which lasted four hours on Centre Court. The Russian eventually prevailed 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 2-6.
Kyrgios was mightily impressed with what he saw from Medvedev. He took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote: "The Slim Reaper (MEDVEDEV) was IMPRESSIVE. - best match I’ve seen him play on grass…… playing with his return position and choosing appropriate times to come forward make him DANGEROUS."
Kyrgios is a massive NBA fan and loves the Boston Celtics. And Slim Reaper is a nickname previously attributed to Kevin Durant, the current Phoenix Suns forward.
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On the tennis court, Medvedev faces reigning Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals. It is a repeat of last year's final-four clash which the Spaniard won surprisingly easily.
And Medvedev said: "I have to serve better [than last year]. That's still the most important thing on grass. You serve aces, you serve on the line, you're less in trouble, and you feel better.
"That's where you can put pressure on his serve. Yeah, then he's a tough player. He can hit strong. He can slice. He can dropshot. He can volley.
"He knows how to play tennis. Just need to be at my best, like kind of how I've been today, and try to win. It's tough to play against him because you know whatever shot you hit, he can hit a winner from there.
"So you try to make his life difficult. You try to hit the shot as good as you can. Maybe he goes for it and he cannot make it. But that's pretty special because there are not many players like this.
The Slim Reaper ( MEDVEDEV) was IMPRESSIVE. - best match I’ve seen him play on grass…… playing with his return position and choosing appropriate times to come forward make him DANGEROUS ??????????????????
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) July 9, 2024
"A lot of players that if you play cross, there is less chances that he goes down-the-line winner, et cetera, et cetera. Carlos can do whatever from any position and that's not easy to play against."
Alcaraz said: "Daniil's a really great player. It's the same semi-final as last year so hopefully I'm going to get the same result! He just won against Sinner, the best player right now, so he's in really good shape and I have to play my best.
"I have to believe in myself and try to keep going. It's going to be difficult but I'm going to enjoy it. The most difficult thing about facing Daniil, or the most special thing about him, is he can reach every ball.
"Well, he is like a wall. Every ball bounces back. I feel like I can hit an unbelievable shot, the ball is going to bounce back. Is difficult to play thinking about that. That's the most special thing about Daniil."
