World number two Rafael Nadal says facing Nick Kyrgios in the second round of the 2019 Mexican Open is a 'big challenge' for the tennis star.
Before the start of the ATP Tour, Rafael Nadal's last encounter was against Novak Djokovic at the 2019 Australian Open final in Melbourne in the month of January.
It was Rafael Nadal's first match and the Spanish tennis star defeated Germany's Mischa Zverev in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 in the round of 32 of the Mexican Open in Acapulco.
Rafael Nadal is aware the tournament can become more challenging. He says the Mexican Open is made more interesting as big-name players are pipped against each other early in the ATP Tour.
"This tournament is hard and there's a lot of great players, so these kinds of matches can happen in the early stages," said Nadal.
"Nick is one of the most talented players on tour. It's a big challenge for me and I hope to be ready for it," he added.
Nick Kyrgios made it to the round of 16 of the 2019 Mexican Open after defeating Andreas Seppi of Italy and even that was in straight sets. The final scoreline was 6-3, 7-5.
Rafael Nadal said he is happy to have a good start to the ongoing tennis tournament in Mexico.
"I'm happy for the victory. It's never easy against Mischa, especially without competing for a while," Rafael Nadal said
"I'll try to enjoy this moment for the next few hours and then be ready for tomorrow."
Paul Annacone: A lot is going on in Nick's mind
Meanwhile, the former coach of Roger Federer, Paul Annacone, has given his verdict about Nick Kyrgios and what could be the difference between winning and losing for the Australian.
"Obviously a lot is going on in Nick's mind and game, yesterday we talked about it, that the match, winning or losing, would be up to Nick", Paul Annacone said.
"For him, it's about how to keep the focus for a prolonged time. You can lose focus for two minutes and then regroup but Nick does not do that."
"We always know that when Nick plays there isn't going to be a lot of baseline tennis, Albot could have won the second set and take the match but Nick started making some strange shots, which we expected.
"He seemed to be struggling with his movement. But credit to Albot for mentally staying in the match so strong."
