The on-court interview that followed Novak Djokovic’s latest Australian Open victory did almost as much to explain the 36-year-old’s continued stranglehold on the men’s game as the 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Taylor Fritz that preceded it. 

No sooner had the Rod Laver Arena crowd been treated, if that is the right word, to the singular sight of Nick Kyrgios emerging to conduct the post-match pleasantries, than Djokovic asserted himself. “I need a mic, thanks man,” he said, relieving Kyrgios of his microphone and, in an instant, realising a cherished dream of chair umpires the length and breadth of the tennis world by rendering the Australian bad boy temporarily silent.

“Good to see you man,” said Djokovic, who will face Jannik Sinner, a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 winner over Andrey Rublev, in the semi-finals. “Looking good in that booth, but looking better here, hopefully with a racket also soon. We miss Nick. Come on guys, show him some love.”

As a wave of applause broke out, and Kyrgios shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, you half wondered whether we would hear from the 28-year-old Canberran again. He was eventually furnished with a mic of his own, but not before Djokovic – who earlier blew a mid-match kiss to Kyrgios as the injured star watched from a courtside commentary booth – had stolen the show. Whether wielding a racket or a microphone, the Serbian world No 1 remains the sport’s alpha male.

After a typically incisive appraisal of how he had subdued Fritz despite an unusually poor conversion rate on break points – Djokovic capitalised on just four of 21 but, as he reflected, “managed to break him when it mattered” – the Serb promised he would introduce Kyrgios to the much-discussed tree in Melbourne’s royal botanical gardens that he says makes him feel “grounded”.

“What you’ve got to do is take off your shoes, climb the tree [to] the highest point, and hang upside down, on one of the highest branches, for 33 minutes and three seconds,” the 24-time grand slam champion told Kyrgios. “Then you’re going to win a slam.”

He might as well have been addressing the entire locker room. Over the past 10 days, Djokovic has struggled with a wrist injury, a viral ailment and some recalcitrant opponents, of whom Fritz was the latest. Nothing has seriously threatened to derail his bid for an 11th title at Melbourne Park, and in all likelihood nothing will. 

Fritz, seeded 12th and able to draw confidence from the experience of pushing Djokovic to five sets in Rod Laver Arena three years ago – which is more than most can say, even if the Serb did suffer a mid-match abdominal injury – brought plenty to the party. He slammed a mighty 63 winners. He saved eight break points in the first set and seven in the second. And in sweltering conditions, he forced Djokovic to run and run. 

But when the American fired down an ace to level at a set apiece, Djokovic changed gears, regaining the lead with a near-perfect 38-minute passage in which he hit 14 winners while making just one mistake. Despite an exchange of breaks midway through the fourth, the pressure on Fritz remained unrelenting, the outcome effectively sealed when the Californian double-faulted to drop serve for a second time.

“He’s so fast, he doesn’t really miss a lot of balls,” said Fritz. “He definitely makes you really work and hit quality shots to win points. It’s also just the lack of free points he gives you.  

“I never just hit a second serve and he just misses it. That just doesn’t happen. Even when I’m going after my second serve hitting second serves that are consistently like 100, 105 miles per hour, jamming him, he still just puts it on the baseline.  

“It’s definitely tough when you don’t get those free points and you have to work for every single point.”

Fritz is not the first to feel that unrelenting pressure. Djokovic has now won 33 straight matches at the Australian Open, equalling a record held by Monica Seles. This was also his 15th grand slam win over a top-20 player since turning 35, eclipsing a mark previously shared with Roger Federer.

The Serb has had to work harder than usual over the first five rounds – the 15 hours and nine minutes he has spent on court so far is a personal record – but he will have two days to rest before facing Sinner. Few would be surprised if the tournament culminates with the Serb eclipsing all-comers for a 25th time. 

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Kyrgios, a finalist at the All England Club last year, has barely played since undergoing knee surgery in January, and admitted ahead of his opening-round meeting with Belgium’s David Goffin that there were “still some question marks” surrounding his fitness. The Australian, seeded 30th, said he was nonetheless “extremely confident” of finding his form, only to announce his withdrawal from the tournament just a few hours later.

“I’m really sad to say that I have to withdraw from Wimbledon this year,” Kyrgios wrote on Instagram. “I tried my hardest to be ready after my surgery and be able to step on the Wimbledon courts again.  

“During my comeback I experienced some pain in my wrist during the week of [the] Mallorca [Open]. As a precaution I had it scanned, and it came back showing a torn ligament. 

“I tried everything to be able to play and I am disappointed to say that I just didn’t have enough time to manage it before Wimbledon.”

Another injury setback represents a significant blow for Kyrgios, whose protracted layoff has come hard on the heels of the best season of his career. The 28-year-old followed last year’s success at Wimbledon with a title win in Washington and a run to the quarter-finals at the US Open, where he deposed defending champion Daniil Medvedev. But he has played just one match since last October, and spoke at his pre-tournament press of the “heartbreak” he experienced after a torn meniscus forced him to miss the Australian Open.

“Last year I felt like everything kind of came together for me,” said Kyrgios. “Finals of Wimbledon. Barely lost a match. Had the third best season on tour. Obviously, my body was just crying out for some sort of rest. I needed to do what I had to do. It’s been brutal. 

“Pulling out of Australian Open was one of the hardest things I had to do because I generally feel like, with the tennis I was playing and with my grand slam experience, just the way I was feeling, I felt like I could win that tournament. 

“Obviously, from then I had to get surgery.  It’s been brutal because everyone is expecting you to be the same player that I was straightaway. That’s been really hard.”

In a year when Novak Djokovic is further ahead of the rest of the field than ever before, the presence of Kyrgios in the defending champion’s half of the draw teased the intriguing possibility of a repeat of last summer’s final. Instead, Kyrgios’s withdrawal removes a potential obstacle from Djokovic’s path while depriving the tournament of a major draw card.

“Sorry to hear your news, Nick Kyrgios,” read a message on Wimbledon’s official Twitter account. “Wishing you a swift recovery and hope to see you back on our courts next year.”

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Kyrgios, ranked 20th and a finalist at Wimbledon last summer, admitted at a magistrates court hearing in Canberra that he pushed Chiara Passari to the ground during an argument on 10 January 2021. The Australian’s guilty plea came after an unsuccessful attempt by his legal team to have the charge thrown out on mental health grounds.

However, the magistrate, Beth Campbell, dismissed the case without conviction after describing the incident as “a single act of stupidity or frustration” of “low level” seriousness. Campbell added that she did not think Kyrgios was at risk of reoffending. The maximum sentence for common assault on a civilian in Australia is two years’ imprisonment.

“I respect today’s ruling and I’m grateful to the court for dismissing the charges without conviction,” Kyrgios later said in a statement issued on social media. 

“I was not in a good place when this happened and I reacted to a difficult situation in a way I deeply regret. I know it wasn’t OK and I’m sincerely sorry for the hurt I caused.  

“Mental health is tough. Life can seem overwhelming. But I’ve found that getting help and working on myself has allowed me to feel better and to be better.”

The late-night incident occurred following an altercation between the couple as Passari attempted to prevent Kyrgios from getting into an Uber outside her apartment in Canberra. Kyrgios’s lawyer, Michael Kukulies-Smith, said his client attempted to move Passari “lawfully” several times before swearing at her and pushing her. Passari, who fell to the pavement as a result, said in a statement that she suffered shoulder pain and a grazed knee. 

Kyrgios apologised the following day, the court heard, and the couple were subsequently reconciled. Passari did not file a formal complaint to the police until 10 months later, when they split permanently. 

Sam Borenstein, Kyrgios’s psychologist, told the court that the player had suffered from recurrent bouts of depression, which included thoughts of self-harm. However, Kyrgios later withdrew a bid to have the case dismissed on the basis of his mental health at the time of the incident.

Campbell said Kyrgios was “a young man trying to extricate himself from a heighted emotional situation” who had “acted in the heat of the moment”.

“I am dealing with you in the same way I would deal with any young man in this court,” said Campbell. “You are a young man who happens to hit a tennis ball particularly well.”

Kyrgios arrived at the court on crutches following arthroscopic surgery on a left knee injury that forced him to withdraw from the Australian Open last month. He was accompanied by his partner, Costeen Hatzi, and members of his family, all of whom he thanked as his focus shifted to his return to the court.

“I can never thank Costeen, my family and friends enough for supporting me through this process,” said Kyrgios. “I now plan to focus on recovering from injury and moving forward in the best way possible.”

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Kyrgios, a finalist at Wimbledon last summer, convened an impromptu press briefing alongside Will Maher, his physiotherapist, to announce that an MRI has revealed a small tear in his left meniscus. While the damage is not expected to cause any long-term damage, a cyst has formed in the area and Kyrgios will travel to Canberra at the end of the week to undergo arthroscopic surgery.

“I’m devastated,” said Kyrgios, who was due to play Russia’s Roman Safiullin in the opening round on Tuesday. “It’s like my home tournament. I’ve had some great memories here. Obviously last year, winning the title in doubles [with Thanasi Kokkinakis] and playing the best tennis of my life probably. Then going into this event as one of the favourites, it’s brutal.”

Doubts first emerged about Kyrgios’s fitness when he withdrew from Australia’s United Cup team at the 11th hour. The 27-year-old subsequently pulled out of a warm-up event in Adelaide too, and when he felt further soreness after playing a charity exhibition match against Novak Djokovic on Friday, hope began to dwindle.

Maher said Kyrgios had tried everything possible to be ready in time, but neither pain-killing injections nor efforts to drain the cyst using a syringe proved effective.

“We used the charity event against Novak as a gauge to see if he could compete at that highest level,” said Maher. “He didn’t pull up great, and he still tried to give himself every chance in the following days to have subsequent training. But it was clear that with each passing session that he was getting sorer and sorer.  

“I think we’ve made the sensible decision to withdraw him because at this stage he wants to feel mentally comfortable that he can go seven matches, he can go the distance, and needs to be able to do potentially seven three-hour matches. Getting on the court simply wasn’t enough for him.”

Kyrgios’s injury, which follows the withdrawal of Ajla Tomljanovic, who also has a knee problem, means neither of Australia’s No 1 players will feature at Melbourne Park. It also deprives the tournament of what would have been a highly anticipated potential quarter-final between Kyrgios and Djokovic. 

With Kyrgios and Tomljanovic joining Paula Badosa on the treatment table, there is talk among the players of “The curse of Netflix”. All three players were featured in the early episodes of the documentary series.

But for Kyrgios, the sting lies principally in the disappointment of missing a tournament he has had in his sights since suffering a surprise defeat to Karen Khachanov in the last eight of the US Open. 

“I was extremely hard on myself after that loss in the [US Open] quarter-finals,” said Kyrgios. “[The] Oz Open was in the back of my mind from that day forth, as soon as I got off the court against Khachanov.

“I always wanted to just do everything right and train right and tick every box, and just be ready for the Oz Open.  

“Obviously, this coming around is just bad timing. But that’s life. Injury is a part of the sport.”

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Draper, ranked 40th and making his first appearance at Melbourne Park, is no stranger to facing a big name in the first round of a major. Two summers ago, the 21-year-old marked his Wimbledon debut by claiming the opening set against Novak Djokovic on Centre Court. Draper has come on in leaps and bounds since, upsetting Felix Auger-Aliassime at last year’s US Open and claiming a first top-10 win against Stefanos Tsitsipas in Montreal. 

Nadal, who has struggled for form since withdrawing from the Wimbledon semi-finals with an abdominal injury six months ago, will need to hit the ground running.  

“It will be amazing to play on a big court against him,” said Draper, who is through to the second ATP semi-final of his career after defeating third seed Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 in Adelaide. “He is a great champion, there are a lot of emotions, thinking about playing him, but I have to still got to do well in this week’s tournament. 

“Whatever happens it will be a special occasion for me, still very young in my career, so it’s great to have these sort of experiences and exposure to playing Rafa on a big court like that. I’ll just be trying to play well and do the best that I can.”

If he finds a way past Draper, Nadal could face Brandon Nakashima, the Next Gen ATP Finals champion, in the second round ahead of a potential last-16 meeting with Frances Tiafoe, who scored an emotionally charged victory over the Spaniard at the same stage of the US Open. 

Should the seedings hold, Nadal would then play Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals, where the Russian seventh seed would no doubt be eager to exact revenge for a shattering defeat from sets to love up in last year’s final. Stefanos Tsitsipas, who defeated the Spaniard in the quarter-finals two years ago, would be next up before a 60th career meeting with Djokovic. 

Nadal is not the only grand slam champion facing an onerous draw. 

Iga Swiatek, the women’s top seed, has been handed a tough opening assignment against Germany’s Jule Niemeier, who reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last summer and led the Polish world No 1 by a set and a break in the fourth round of last September’s US Open. In a bizarre twist of fate, Victoria Azarenka and Sofia Kenin, both of whom know what it is to lift the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, will vie for a place in the second round. And Bianca Andreescu, the former US Open champion, opens against Marie Bouzkova, the Czech 25th seed.

Elsewhere in the men’s draw, Andy Murray will play Matteo Berrettini, the big-serving Italian and former Wimbledon finalist, for the second major in succession. Berrettini, the 13th seed, prevailed in four sets when the pair met in the third round of the US Open. Dominic Thiem, meanwhile, the 2020 US Open champion and Australian Open finalist, has been pitted against Andrey Rublev, the Russian fifth seed.

There are fewer obvious pitfalls in the path of Djokovic, who opens his challenge for a record-extending 10th title at Melbourne Park against Spain’s Roberto Carballés Baena. 

Djokovic, the fourth seed and title favourite, finds himself in the same quarter as Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios – where Holger Rune, the Danish teenager who consigned him to a shock defeat in the Paris Masters final, also lurks. Kyrgios and Rune could cross swords in the third round, although first the Australian must find a way past Russia’s Roman Safiullin, whom he will face in his opener. Kyrgios will not want for belief.

“I am one of the best players in the world,” declared Kyrgios. “So I’m definitely going to go into the Australian Open, any tournament, with confidence.”

Djokovic is seeded to play Rublev in the quarter-finals before renewing acquaintances with Norway’s Casper Ruud, the second seed, whom he defeated in Turin two months ago to win the ATP Finals.

Swiatek is expected to face Coco Gauff in the last eight, in what would be a repeat of last year’s French Open final, which was won convincingly by the Pole. Jessica Pegula, the American third seed, is likely to await in the semi-finals. Pegula, who has started the season in outstanding form, brushed aside a tearful Swiatek in the semi-finals of the United Cup last week.

In the bottom half of the draw, Ons Jabeur will continue her ongoing quest for a maiden grand slam title against former French Open semi-finalist Tamara Zidansek.

Jabeur, seeded second, is projected to meet Aryna Sabalenka, the champion in Adelaide last week, in the quarter-finals. Caroline Garcia, the fourth seed and WTA Finals champion, is expected to obstruct the Tunisian’s path to a third consecutive slam final.

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It is a conveniently pithy adage, yet it is only a partial representation of Billie Jean King’s famous words, which continue: “Usually if you have tremendous pressure, it’s because an opportunity comes along.” With the men’s quarter-finals at the US Open shorn of the big three for the second time in three years, a fuller exposition might be in order. 

Opportunity looms large at Flushing Meadows, where a grand slam champion from outside the triumvirate of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will be crowned on Sunday for only the eighth time since Federer won his first Wimbledon title in 2003. On a day of heavy rainfall in New York, the attendant pressures were plain to see. 

Matteo Berrettini was the first to sink without trace. The Italian, a semi-finalist three years ago, was swept aside 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) as Casper Ruud, the fifth seed, rode a tide of inspiration to reach the last four for the first time. 

Many observers expected Berrettini, with his booming serve, flamethrower forehand and superior grand slam pedigree, to have too much for the Norwegian. But on an afternoon when Berrettini barely turned up until he was on the verge of a two-set deficit, a fourth major semi-final was never on the cards.

“I was really bad,” said Berrettini. “I didn’t check my percentage of serve. I didn’t check the stats, but my game wasn’t there.

“He played a really good match, and I played a really bad match. Really nothing I can say, more than [this was] the worst day of the tournament, probably in the most important moment. Nothing today. I mean, I fought through, but it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t feeling my game. I wasn’t feeling my mindset.”

As Berrettini wilted in the face of opportunity, Ruud soared. It was an immaculate performance from the 23-year-old, who reached his first grand slam final this summer at Roland Garros and has a chance to claim the No 1 ranking if he can advance to the title round of a second major in three months.

Having set out to nullify Berrettini’s heavy artillery by making a high percentage of returns and forcing the Italian to contest the baseline exchanges off his weaker backhand side, Ruud executed his strategy to near perfection. The Norwegian surrendered just two unforced errors en route to a 6-1, 5-1 lead and then weathered a belated fightback from Berrettini, who established a 5-2 lead in the third set, to save two set points. 

Buoyed by his growing feel for the rhythms of the five-set format, and increasingly confident on hard courts after reaching the final of the Miami Open earlier this year, Ruud is embracing the possibilities that lie ahead.

“It’s sort of a city of dreams, and I guess that’s helping me with my game and my motivation,” said Ruud, who also reached the last four in Montreal before the US Open. 

“During Paris, something clicked, and I feel like this year I have sort of figured out a better way to play five sets, knowing that it’s very different from playing best of three sets.

“It often becomes much longer matches, and a lot of back and forth. Also realising or knowing that you can sort of let one set go every once in a while, to save some energy for the rest of the sets. So I think I matured and learned how to play five sets better than I did last year.”

The same might be said of Nick Kyrgios, whose run to the Wimbledon final has been the catalyst for a remarkable summer in which he has emerged as the tour’s form player, claiming the Washington title and twice defeating Daniil Medvedev, the current world No 1. 

Bookmakers promptly installed Kyrgios as the title favourite following Nadal’s shock defeat to Frances Tiafoe in the last 16, but expectation caught up with the volatile Australian against Karen Khachanov, who consigned Kyrgios to a 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 defeat that left the 23rd seed smashing his rackets in frustration.

“I’m just devastated,” said Kyrgios, who was troubled by a sore knee in the early stages of a predictably service-dominated contest. 

“I just feel like it was either winning it all or nothing at all, to be honest. I feel like I’ve just failed at this event right now.

“I honestly feel like shit. I feel like I’ve let so many people down.”

At the heart of Kyrgios’s disappointment lay an appreciation that, with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer absent and Nadal beaten – and having ended Medvedev’s reign as champion in the previous round – he may never have a better opportunity to win a grand slam title. He will have known, too, that had he converted either of the two break points he held in the ninth game of the third set, the outcome might have been different. Instead, Khachanov served an ace before Kyrgios, to his evident, racket-smashing dismay, blasted an inviting forehand long.

They were not the only chances that went begging – Khachanov twice served his way out of trouble in the opening game of that set – and although Kyrgios recovered well to force a decider, an early break proved fatal to his ambitions. 

Huge credit must go to Khachanov, who embraced the chance to reach his first grand slam semi-final with a performance full of steel and resilience. 

“I would say it was quite open for all the guys because everybody [could] see that there is [an] opportunity to take the trophy,” said the 26-year-old. “I would say maybe it even increased the level for everyone.”

Some more than others, it would be fair to say.

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On a night of high drama and high quality at Flushing Meadows, follow Medvedev did – and it cost him his US Open title and No 1 ranking, as Kyrgios claimed a 7-6 (13-11), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory to reach his first quarter-final at Flushing Meadows.

It was a performance of majesty laced with the occasional moment of madness from the Australian, who saved three set points to come through a compelling first set, inexplicably sat out the second, and staged a bizarre act of self-sabotage early in the third when he illegally rounded the net to volley away a loose ball, denying himself a potentially vital break point. 

Kyrgios atoned for that lapse at the first opportunity, however, wresting Medvedev’s next service game from him with the help of two searing crosscourt forehands, and he held firm to continue the remarkable summer surge that has carried him to a first grand slam final at Wimbledon, a second title in Washington, and 20 wins from his past 23 matches.

“This is the last trip before I head back to Australia, so I want to go all the way,” Kyrgios told Patrick McEnroe on court afterwards. “Hopefully it’s possible.”

Increasingly, with Kyrgios, anything feels possible. He had Medvedev under his spell even before the first ball had been struck, the Russian adopting a return position significantly closer to the baseline than normal. The idea, Medvedev later explained, was to deter Kyrgios from following his delivery to the net. That was an understandable impulse, given the incessant net-rushing that carried the Australian to victory when the pair met last month in Montreal, but it also felt like a tacit concession of vulnerability. 

The world’s top-ranked player – a status Medvedev will now lose to either Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz or Casper Ruud next week – might expect his opponents to have to make allowances for his game, rather than vice versa. Yet it has been a complicated season for the Muscovite, who narrowly lost out to Nadal in the Australian Open final, fell to Marin Cilic at Roland Garros shortly after undergoing a hernia operation, and was unable to compete at Wimbledon due to the tournament’s blanket ban on Russian and Belarusian players. 

Medvedev’s greatest mistake, however, lay in attempting to play Kyrgios at his own game, a problem that started with a break point he faced at 3-2 in the opening set. Having prodded a lovely off-backhand return to fashion the opportunity, Kyrgios gesticulated wildly to the crowd, revving them up, urging them to show greater energy. Medvedev, quietly seething, went on to screw a forehand approach wide, and in the next game he replied in kind, twice appealing to the stands for support as he broke straight back. Anything you can do. 

Anxious not to cede ground in the battle for hearts and minds, however, Medvedev did not stop there. With Kyrgios a break to the good at 2-1 in the fourth set, a return winner earned the Russian a lifeline at 30-40. As he readied himself behind the baseline, Medvedev attempted to stir up the crowd again.

Now it was Kyrgios who became enraged, earning a warning for an audible obscenity before crashing down a huge ace. A primal roar followed. Medvedev, who revealed afterwards that he was “feeling his throat a little bit”, would not threaten again. Kyrgios held for 3-1 and, when he earned a break point in the next game, he stoked the crowd with far greater theatrically than Medvedev – and probably anyone else in the draw – could ever hope to muster. The psychological war was won.

“It was pretty even till the third set, then he got a little bit the better of me,” said Medvedev. “Physically I started feeling little bit worse in the third set, so I think that was a little bit the key. I don’t know how he was. Maybe he was also. Physically I started just feeling a little bit more tired.”

Medvedev compared it afterwards to facing Novak Djokovic or Nadal. 

“Played Novak, Rafa, they all play amazing,” said the Russian. “Nick today played kind of their level, in my opinion.”

Whatever the similarity in level, however, Kyrgios remains a world away from those players in mindset. Djokovic and Nadal are winning machines, their combined tally of 43 majors the product of relentless competitive intensity. Aesthetic concerns or thoughts of who might be in the stands barely warrant a second thought in their worldview, certainly not in the heat of battle. Not so Kyrgios, who spoke afterwards of his relief at finally doing himself justice in front of the New York crowd.

“I feel like I’ve been able to showcase,” said the Australian, who will face Karen Khachanov, the 27th seed, in the last eight. “There’s a lot of celebrities here, a lot of important people here watching. I wanted to get on that court and show them I am able to put my head down and play and win these big matches.”

The key, as Kyrgios acknowledged, was a tense and testy opening set in which the chair umpire, Eva Asderaki, frequently found herself in the firing line. Kyrgios complained of being rushed on serve, berating Asderaki for what he felt was an overzealous deployment of the time clock, while Medvedev took exception to the overexuberance of the Australian’s box, claiming he had been disturbed while serving. 

Yet the greater problem for the top seed was Kyrgios’s clutch play in the tiebreak. The man from Canberra snuffed out Medvedev’s first set point with a big serve, staved off another by taking a backhand return impossibly early, and then dispatched the sweetest of backhand volleys on to the outermost edge of the sideline to cancel out the third. 

“The first set, I guess, was the most important thing,” said Kyrgios. “I feel like if he’d got that first set, it was going to be pretty much an impossible task for me to come back and win. I just thought I played the right way.”

He has been playing the right way all summer. It may yet carry him to a first grand slam title.

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Deep into uncharted territory after winning 15 of his last 16 matches, an exhausted Kyrgios hit the wall against Hubert Hurkacz in Montreal, suffering his first loss since the Wimbledon final as the Polish eighth seed prevailed 7-6 (7-4), 6-7, (5-7) 6-1.

Kyrgios, 27, has maintained a hectic pace since his defeat to Novak Djokovic at the All England Club, claiming the Atlanta Open doubles title with Thanasi Kokkinakis despite withdrawing from the singles with a knee injury, then completing a clean sweep of singles and doubles in Washington. It was a monumental effort by the Australian even before he toppled Daniil Medvedev, the world No 1 and defending champion, earlier this week, but it has taken a physical and mental toll that was evident in his subdued mood against Hurkacz.

Kyrgios whistled through his service games, barely pausing between deliveries as the ever-gentlemanly Hurkacz rushed to observe the rule that states “the receiver must play to the reasonable pace of the server”.

Not for the first time in his career, Kyrgios explored the boundaries of what might be deemed reasonable, although Hurkacz hardly seemed to mind as he matched the Canberran blow for devastating blow. The Pole won the first set on a tiebreak before Kyrgios, weary but determined, replied in kind.  

Midway through the second breaker, Kyrgios was helped on his way by an outrageous stroke of good fortune, the ball bouncing off the net tape twice before trickling over to Hurkacz’s side. But just as the momentum appeared to have shifted, Hurkacz left the court for an eight-minute comfort break, completely knocking the wind out of his opponent’s sails.

The Pole was within the rules, but Kyrgios’s displeasure was evident. Tellingly, however, Kyrgios could barely even summon the energy to complain. The tone of his exchange with the chair umpire, Adel Nour, was conversational rather than anarchic – even if, predictably, his language left something to be desired.

“What does the rule say?” Kyrgios inquired. “I didn’t need to change clothes. No one needs to change clothes, no one. You don’t have to. My body cools down. 

“What do you want me to do? We’re not fucking machines, bro. We can’t just go and stop, go and stop.”

Kyrgios, who fell away alarmingly in the decider, later allayed fears of serious injury, reiterating his suggestion that the delay had simply caused him to stiffen up.

“My body hasn’t been feeling great the last week,” said Kyrgios, who stretched out his lower back frequently early in his match against Medvedev and clutched at the area just a point into his joust with Hurkacz. 

“I was feeling the abdominal a little bit before the match, my knees hurt. Obviously, when you’re playing and you stop playing for like five to 10 minutes, it doesn’t help your body. My body was so stiff after that, I couldn’t move properly. My abdominal was hurting.  

“I mean, it’s within the rules. I’m not going to complain. I completely stiffened up. After the second set, like I’m not a machine, I’m a human. My knees were sore, my back was sore, my abdominal was sore. I was trying to stay moving, but I just stiffened up.”

It is not the first time this week that a bathroom break has caused controversy. Casper Ruud, who set up a semi-final meeting with Hurkacz after inflicting  a 6-1, 6-2 defeat on home hope Felix Auger-Aliassime, received a code violation during his fourth round victory over Roberto Bautista Agut after leaving the court for 11 minutes to change his clothes. Ruud fell foul of chair umpire Fergus Murphy after not only exceeding the allotted time, but also failing to use the facilities. 

“You have to go to the bathroom when you say you’re going to the bathroom,” Murphy told Ruud, who will be fined for his troubles. “When you don’t go, I have to give you a warning for not going.”

Hurkacz, who won in Miami last year and is through to the fourth Masters 1000 semi-final of his career, is the only player left in the draw to have won a title at this level. In the lower half, Britain’s Dan Evans defeated Tommy Paul 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 to set up a last-four showdown with Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta, who defeated Jack Draper 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.

In the women’s event in Toronto, Simona Halep, the resurgent 15th seed, beat Coco Gauff 6-4, 7-6 (7-2). She will meet Jessica Pegula in the last four after the American seventh seed came through 6-3, 6-3 against Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.

In the other half, Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil followed up her career-best victory over world No 1 Iga Swiatek with a battling 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Belinda Bencic, the 12th seed. She will play last year’s finalist Karolina Pliskova, the 14th seed, who defeated China’s Qinwen Zheng 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

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So often a man to fly by the seat of his pants, Kyrgios came into the contest with a carefully conceived game plan and – crucially if unsurprisingly, given that this was his 15th win in 16 matches – the conviction to see it through. That quality was never more apparent than when the Australian twice denied Medvedev a potentially decisive break early in the decider. 

Subjected to an unrelenting blitz by an opponent who rushed the net behind his first and second serves throughout, Medvedev waited an hour and 35 minutes for his first break point to arrive. When it did, Kyrgios came gambolling forward to graze the sideline with an unreachable backhand volley. The frustrated glance the Russian cast towards his coach, Gilles Cervara, spoke volumes. A second opportunity was snuffed out by one of the dozen aces Kyrgios thundered down on the afternoon. Medvedev, one of the game’s most accomplished returners, would not have another. 

This was a performance of genuine steel by Kyrgios, who shrugged off the disappointment of missing two set points in the opener to overcome a reigning world No 1 for the second time in his career, eight years after his famous victory against Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon. The 27-year-old has now won eight consecutive matches, following his first title run since 2019 in Washington last week.

Kyrgios is up to 31 in the world rankings, ensuring that he will be seeded when the US Open gets underway 18 days from now, and the manner in which he adapted his game to secure his third win in four meetings with Medvedev offered further evidence that he is operating at the height of his considerable powers. Buoyed by his run to the Wimbledon final, he will pose as big a threat as anyone to Medvedev’s hopes of retaining his crown at Flushing Meadows.

“I knew he was feeling confident, so I had to come out there with a game style that wasn’t going to give him too much rhythm,” said Kyrgios, who will face compatriot his Alex de Minaur in the next round. 

“I served and volleyed pretty much every point. I’ve been serving well, volleying pretty well. I thought, ‘Why not completely switch it up?’ I returned really well today, too. Had two set points in the first set. I was right there from the get-go. So I’m really happy with the way I performed.

“It’s just one match, though, in the scheme of things. That’s tennis as well. This is not going to elevate my ranking into the top 10. It’s just one match, so I need to get ready for the next one.”

In the early stages, service games went by a rate of knots. Six games in, neither man had one won more than four points against the other’s delivery. Kyrgios completed one hold in 48 seconds, another in 47. Medvedev, full of confidence after winning his first title of the season in Los Cabos at the weekend, was similarly dominant. A tiebreak looked inevitable.

Kyrgios, however, had other ideas. When Medvedev, serving to stay in the set, betrayed a first hint of vulnerability with a double fault, the Australian rifled a backhand winner to reach deuce. Medvedev subsequently saved two set points with some clutch serving, which was the cue for Kyrgios to start chuntering discontentedly as he questioned the height of the bounce and complained about his opponent’s unerring ability to find the lines. 

Medvedev required no further encouragement, romping through the ensuing breaker to take the lead. Now the spotlight was on Kyrgios. He had spoken beforehand of feeling mentally jaded after his recent exploits, and here was a lapse of focus and intensity to prove it. Instead of folding as he has done so often in the past, however, Kyrgios rallied patiently to gain a foothold in Medvedev’s first service game of the second set and then ripped a forehand pass to bring up two break points. Having converted the first, he never looked back.

“I just kind of reset,” said Kyrgios. “I looked at my team. You kind of see what we did last week. We had a great week. I kind of took the pressure off myself a little bit. I was like, Let’s just have a little bit of fun, free swing a little bit on returns. 

“I ended up returning really well [in] the first game of the second set. Broke him. The momentum changed from that point on. I executed well on big points today. I feel like my game and my confidence under pressure is at an all-time high.”

That could be bad news for anyone with title pretensions.

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Nadal advanced to the last four at the All England Club before a torn stomach muscle, which prevented him from serving normally during his quarter-final win over Taylor Fritz, forced him to pull out of the event. 

The Spaniard returned to training about a fortnight later but did not resume serving until earlier this week – at which point it became apparent that his plans to compete in Montreal would have to be shelved.

“I have been practising for a while now without serving and started with serves four days ago. Everything has been going well. However, yesterday, after my normal practice, I felt a slight bother on my abdominal and today it was still there,” said Nadal in a statement. 

“After speaking with my doctor, we prefer to take things in a conservative way and give a few more days before starting to compete.”

The 36-year-old’s withdrawal from a tournament he has won five times represents a blow to his preparations for the US Open, where he has won four of his 22 grand slam titles. His next scheduled appearance is in Cincinnati, a fortnight before the season’s final major gets underway on 29 August. Even a second title run there would leave him with only five competitive outings before heading to New York. 

Then again, a lack of match play due to injury did not prevent Nadal from winning the Australian and French Opens earlier this year, and the Mallorcan has repeatedly emphasised the need to prioritise his long-term health at this stage of his career, a theme to which he returned as he announced his latest withdrawal on social media.

“After training, I had a little discomfort that was still there today,” Nadal wrote on Twitter. “We have decided not to travel to Montreal and to continue training without forcing ourselves.

“I have no choice but to be prudent at this point and think about health.”

Daniil Medvedev, who will be the top seed and defending champion in Montreal, is through to the final in Los Cabos after seeing off Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6 (7-0), 6-1. The world No 1, who fought back from 4-1 down in the opening set, will face Cameron Norrie after the British third seed came through 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 against Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Medvedev could face a blockbuster second-round meeting with Wimbledon finalist Nick Kygios in Montreal, although the Australian must first get past Sebastian Baez.

Kyrgios offered further evidence of his growing self-belief at the Citi Open, where he saved five match points against Frances Tiafoe, prevailing 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (12-10), 6-2 to set up a semi-final against Mikael Ymer of Sweden, who clinched a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 win over Sebastian Korda.

Kyrgios, who struck a remarkable 60 winners over the course of the two and a half hour contest, is seeking his first title since winning in Washington three years ago.

“Frances put himself in every position to win the match,” said Kyrgios. “In those moments I wasn’t really thinking too much. I was just trying to stay in the match, and I survived.

“I felt like physically I was really fresh in the third set and served well. I was extremely lucky at times, but it was just a great match.”

There was no such joy for Emma Raducanu, who lost a rain-delayed women’s quarter-final against Liudmila Samsonova 7-6 (8-6), 6-1. Raducanu, the second seed, missed four set points in the opening set and made 24 unforced errors as she struggled to contain the Russian’s superior weight of shot. She left without speaking to the media afterwards.

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